​Pumpkins, People, and Prayers.

When I think of harvest season my mind is flooded with memories of pumpkin farms and little boys hunting for the perfect pumpkin. Each of them having a different idea of what perfection looked like. They didn’t seem to notice the things I saw, like a flat side, a missing stem, or a hole in the bottom where seeds spilled out. They saw something else, as they looked with childlike wonder.

They would carry back their finds dressed in pumpkin patch dust from head to toe and smiles from ear to ear. I can still hear the sound of fallen leaves crunching beneath their little feet, and see the colors of autumn surrounding them, like a picture frame in my mind. Thinking back, I can almost join them and be a child again- in spirit. I could feel the wonder of it all and ignore the imperfections. My heart fills with gratitude for these memories, but also for this present moment.

I only need look out my window today to see the season’s changes taking place in real time. The last of the apples hanging on the tree, reminding me of God’s bountiful provisions, and for me to get picking! I think many of us are happy to see the dry, hot summer make way for fall. I imagine the trees looking forward to dropping their parched leaves in exchange for cooler weather.

It seems God may want us to be familiar with change. Perhaps that’s why He gave us rotating seasons, and children that grow up. There’s no harvest without seasons of growth. Change is good when it comes from Him, but even good change can be hard. Unlike seasons, we don’t always know what’s next. We can be focused on our own ideas of what should happen and miss the wonder of what God is doing. We might walk past people who are broken or messy, like I walked past those pumpkins at the pumpkin farm.

The wrong perspective can miss what God is doing around us, and through us, because we forget to look at our lives with the eyes of a child of God. He placed us here to tend His garden, produce spiritual fruit, and harvest souls into His Kingdom.  In Matthew 9:36-37 when Jesus looked around Him and saw all the people, imperfect lost sheep in need of a shepherd, He said-

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”

We can pray that prayer and we can also be the answer to that prayer!

As the winds of change come with the changing season, I pray we let any dry, parched expectations give way to a bit of childlike wonder. May we see the people around us with fresh eyes and extend to them the love and grace of our Heavenly Father. For His kingdom and His glory.

Are you ready? It’s harvest time!

Charlotte