Fresh Earth?
Don't know about you, but I… HATE… Summer. Yep, "hate" is definitely the word. Sweating when you work or workout is no big deal to me, I don't mind that, and kinda like it actually, but sweating while you are just standing there, or just trying to get ready for work… not so much.
This past Summer was even more despised by me than most, because I spent much of it laid up and trying to recover from surgery. I had to just kind of sit there, sweat, and wait for Summer to pass. For me, the only thing good about Summer is that it is followed by Fall. Yep, I'm a Fall guy. And, Fall is finally here! Yay!!!
Fall is my favorite time of year for so many, many reasons… football, deer hunting, cooler temperatures, the opportunity to ride my motorcycle down back-roads lined by trees losing their leaves and in various stages of change and color. Fall… Happy days are here…
Over the past few weeks I have been reminded of a couple of additional reasons I love Fall as I had the opportunity to return to rural America and to do some evangelistic speaking in Ashland, Nebraska, and Rozel, Kansas. While there, I found myself surrounded by agricultural communities both of which were either preparing for, or in the full swing of Fall harvest and planting season. There is something about the smell of corn and milo harvest in the cool of an early Autumn evening on the Great Plains that stirs my soul. And, in Kansas in particular, the smell of fresh earth that fills the air as wheat farmers till up the ground from last year's crop and plant (drill) the coming year's crop, just floods me with hope.
Fresh earth, I truly love that scent… For me, it is the smell of potential and possibility. It is a smell that reminds me that there is a future that I cannot see, and that God is ultimately in control of. It is a reminder to me to pray and ask God to break up the hard, dormant ground of my heart and to ask Him to prepare me for the planting within of that which will produce in me a fruitful and abundant spiritual harvest.
Hosea 10:12 says, "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you."
This Fall, as you see all of the Autumn and seasonal changes going on around you, I'd like to challenge you to begin to pray this prayer, or one like it:
"Dear God, please break up the hardened areas (fallow ground) of my heart, and plant (sow) in me right thinking, attitudes, words, actions, feelings and all the changes that you see are necessary in me at this stage of my spiritual growth. Then, rain down on me Lord, the blessings of your goodness, love, mercy and forgiveness (righteousness), that will help me live out the purpose and the plan you have for my life, and bring forth a harvest that will truly make a difference in this world. Help me Lord, in this season of Grace in which I find myself, to seek you with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength, knowing that with you, in you, and through you, the best is always yet to come. Help me Lord, to Keep on Keepin' on In Jesus, in and through every moment of every day of every season that I find myself in the midst of.
In Jesus Name, Amen"
Rob Schmutz, Pastor
Zechariah 4:10a
Zechariah 4:10a
The Church at Park City
1510 East 61st Street North
Park City, KS 67219
