It’s one of my favorite times of the year. Not only do I have many memories of growing up on the farm, not only do I find beauty in the sights, sounds, and scents, but also, it is a reminder of the importance of intentional growth, sacrifice, humility, and perseverance.

Harvest can be deeply satisfying as well as deeply disappointing. We all harvest something. We put different efforts into the process. Some people tend to “wait and see what they get” while others try to tightly control the process. It’s important to have a healthy balance – to pay attention without obsessing, to put forth genuine effort without expecting controlled results, to understand there is a relationship between the process and the result but to also accept there are multiple factors. Sometimes we get more than we expect. Sometimes we get a much less impressive yield. Sometimes everything seems to break down at once. Sometimes the sun shines and the rain falls on the seemingly perfect days.

Just as we can handle or mishandle the process leading into harvest and the harvest itself, we handle or mishandle the results. We squander, ignore, mishandle the crop, or we continue to care for and wisely use what we find in our hands and in our storage bins. We don’t hold it too long nor too briefly. We pay attention.

Although this is the time of the year I most think about harvest, we are all harvesting throughout the year. Every day. Every relationship. Every task. Wisely or not, we are investing, planting, cultivating, watching, weeding, giving away, and stewarding what we have in front of us.