The Farmer's Market

Hello,
 
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."  Galatians 6:7-9
 
Two words that will get a person to wake up early on a Saturday morning are "garage sales." Two other words are "farmers' market." Both have their own appeal.  Our "farmers' market", on the square at Orleans, is a great place to socialize, catch up on local news, and a real bonus is the live acoustic band that gathers every Saturday morning.  But the main attraction is, that there is just something extra special about fresh fruits and vegetables, picked just a few hours before, trucked in from the country in the back of a pickup. These are not the processed, hauled long-distance, waxed, sprayed, treated versions, but the real deal.  Sorry to see the "farmers' market" coming to an end for the season.
 
We enjoy wandering through the stalls, picking and choosing, feasting on the fruit of someone else's labor. But ours is a different view of those items from the person selling them. The fruit of the harvest is the fruit of their labor. They may remember tilling, planting, cultivating, fertilizing, pruning, staking, watering--then finally came harvesting. Giving up is not in the process, unless the person wanted a bed of weeds.
 
Life is like that. Paul uses farming as an illustration to teach us both the importance of sowing and of not giving up. We will reap a harvest if we do not lose heart (6:9), and what we reap will depend on what we sow (vv. 7-8).
 
At the farmers' market, we reap the benefit of what others have sown, of their hard work. That is the way it can be with fruits and vegetables but not with the blessing of God in our life. We cannot buy His blessings from a vendor. We must sow and reap, not giving up. The blessings do come!  "...but he that soweth to the Spirit shall reap of the Spirit life everlasting...."

Henry