Having passed through the Fall Feasts, I’ve taken a moment to contemplate the fall season.  The world and it’s religions always seems to turn this time of year into a time of darkness, decay and death.  Take, for example, the horrid fall festival coming up at the end of this month.  I suppose if you believe what your eyes see, that would seem to be true.  I suppose if you have no hope outside of what your eyes see, autumn would be less than uplifting.

However -  As the Preacher says in Ecclesiastes, there is a time to plant and a time to reap.  Spring and summer are a time of work and labor — clearing the fields and planting, tending, guarding and harvesting.  The fall season is the time to start living in that harvest.  A time to be filled with the fruit of the growth season.  Autumn is when the workers cease from the working of the field and begin living in the bounty thereof.

Spiritually speaking, we so often fall into the rut of the fall and winter seasons allowing death and darkness to close in around us.  We forget that we have an almighty God that has provided for us and sustains us – in life and in spirit.  As the seasons change and we move into the cool, colorful autumn, may we recall where our source of life is.  Life is not found in the sun and it’s cycles – it’s found in the Almighty.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-14
What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?
I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives,
and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor–it is the gift of God.
I know that whatever God does,
It shall be forever.
Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before Him.

Fall is in the air.  I love autumn days – especially the mornings.  The blazing heat of summer is finally being edged out by the cool nights.  The trees put on their party clothes to celebrate a well lived summer.  And, in comes the harvest.

Autumn brings to conclusion the end of the growing season.  The harvest of fruits  and gardens is the thought of the day.  For many, it’s canning season, for some, it’s time to start the new wine.  For all, it’s a time to contemplate the coming winter.

John 4:35 Do you not say, “There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

Yeshua gave a strong warning to His disciples that we need to look at the fields – look at them because they are ready for harvest.  The season in the Kingdom of God – right now -  is a season of harvest.

Countless preachers, teachers and pontificators have broached the subject of going out and reaching those lost souls that are out in the world, without hope in their sins.  I applaud their intentions, and much of their effort.  If not for those messages of hope to the lost, how many would be in God’s Word today?  But, I want to ask a different question.  How many of God’s people – those that “have decided to follow Jesus“, as the old hymn goes, realize the season in which we live today?

Isaiah 56:12 “Come,” one says, “I will bring wine, And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today, And much more abundant.”

Isaiah warns us of some folks that have been lazy, and ignorant (they haven’t been looking at the fields, and wouldn’t understand what they saw anyway) and would lead us to believe that things will continue as they have.  “Today is good, but tomorrow will even better!”, they say.

I have a message for you.  Listen to the Words of Messiah.  Look at the fields – they are ready for harvest.  After the harvest comes the winter – a time when there will be no planting or harvesting.  As my grandmother would say, we need to make hay while the sun is shining.  In other words, what are we doing today to make sure that the harvest is not left in the field?  What are we doing to be ready for the winter?  Are we storing up for the days to come?  (Some may take that literal, some spiritual.  I say take your pick, limit of two.)

Matthew 6:33-34
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Again, the Words of Yeshua give us instruction.  In the verses above, “Therefore”, it says.  What is that “therefore” there for?  It’s there because we are to have sought FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness!  Then having done that today, we have no need to worry about tomorrow.  I venture to say, if we have not sought His kingdom and His righteousness, perhaps you should worry about tomorrow.

So, what do we need to do today that we need not worry about tomorrow?  What does it mean to seek His Kingdom and His righteousness?  In Part, the Psalmist tells us:

Psalm 90:12
So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

On the heels of my last post, “Shut up and Listen”, I had the chance to rehearse one of the other aspects of communication – the actual speaking part.  Not just in a normal, everyday situation, but in dealing with an issue.  Without getting into the issue, here are some thing I was reminded of in a less than pleasant manner.

There are times that we have listened and think we are ready to speak.  So, we speak.  Then we come back later to realize that the words we spoke have caused harm.  Perhaps directly, perhaps indirectly – having been repeated at an inopportune time or to the wrong audience.  A little story to bring us around to my point:

As my lovely Wife will attest, I am full of little sayings, stories and anecdotes.  Many of which originated from my grandmother.  As a child, I recall listening to my grandmother telling a story of a man who had spoke inappropriately about a number of people, and wanted to make the situation right.  He went to a wise man to ask how to correct his mistake, and the wise man tells him to take a small feather and place it on the doorstep of each person he had spoken against, and come back.  So the man does as instructed, carefully placing a feather on each doorstep, and returns to the wise man.  “Now”, instructs the wise man, “Go and collect those feathers.”  The man returns to the doorsteps of his verbal victims only to find that the feathers are not to be found.  Sadly, he returns to the wise man and reports his findings.  “Such is the way of our words”, replies the wise man.  “Once spoken, we know not where they will go.  So, choose them wisely.”

A word spoken out of turn can cause much chaos, mayhem and disorder.  It may be true, it may seem like the best answer at the time and it may seem innocuous to us, but if we haven’t considered the listeners point of view, we may be causing harm.  Or, what if our words are repeated in the hearing of others?  There are many scenarios that we could ponder, but we won’t.  Here is my hard earned wisdom for the week:  Not everything that we have on our minds needs to be shared.  Sometimes the better part of communication is to remain speechless.

I was recently reminded of how an effective communicator does his or her job.  So often, we as humans get started talking and think, by virtue of our flapping lips, that we are communicating effectively.  The word “communicate” used to mean ‘to make common’.  It has come to mean ‘to impart knowledge’.  Other similar words pop to mind: community, commune, communion and more.  To understand what it is to communicate – to really communicate – we have to go back to what that word really means – not the modern, sterile, “I don’t want to really communicate with you ’cause I might catch something” definition.

Acts 2:44 (NKJV)
Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common…

Over the years, I have learned one of the most important keys to effective communication.  In fact, I will be so brave to say that this is one of the “secrets of the universe”: Listening.  Now, I don’t mean hearing.  When my twin children were born nearly three years ago, they underwent the standard hearing tests that they administer to newborns.  The audiology technician assured Mindy and I that our children could hear just fine – listening, however, he would not guarantee.

See, listening involves more than our auditory senses.  Listening requires active participation.  To listen to someone requires that we set aside our desire to convey knowledge and allow that person to commune with us.  Listening requires that we get involved in what that person is saying – not just with their mouth – but with their whole body.  Listening requires that we hear what is being said by what is not being said.  That is, what is this person trying to convey to me that is not coming across in their words?  On top of all this, listening requires an active commitment to allowing another to share their heart and allow their sharing to reach our heart.

In short, listening requires that we – the listener – realize that each person has value in the eyes of God.  And, despite their age, social status, abilities and/or disabilities each person on the face of this planet can see God’s love in the simple (yet not so simple) act of listening.

Shalom!
Scott