We had a visiting pastor at our church one Sunday who shared this story from his childhood.
It was during the depression, and things were hard. His father, a teacher, decided if he could find a job for the summer it would provide some extra money The hard part was he would have to leave his family to do it.
Every year the family planted a large garden, and this year it would be the same.
As the father planted the seeds, he told the two oldest boys it would be their responsibility to take care of the garden. They were to weed and water it faithfully, and he told the boys their mother was not to help or remind them of their duties. It was all up to them. It excited the boys to think would be the “men” of the house while dad was away.
“It will be the best garden ever, dad. Don’t worry about us.” Dad smiled and gave them a big hug, and headed down the road.
All went well; for a while. Soon the gardening got a little dull, and the trips to the garden got farther and farther apart.
The summer flew by. One day, a letter came from Dad saying he would be home in a couple of weeks. Everyone was excited. Then the boys thought of the garden. “What are we going to do? “They rushed to the garden to find it worse than they thought. Pulling the weeds showed how puny the plants were. Watering the garden did little to make up for the neglect of the last few months; they knew they had failed.
The day came; they could see their father walking down the road toward the house. The boys ran down the road to greet their father, and as they walked back to the house, they made a trip to the garden. The boys’ lagged. They felt horrible as their father strolled through the garden. He didn’t say a word, but they could see the disappointment on his face. The boys were ashamed they had let him down. They would never let this happen again.
The next year it was the same. The father planted the garden and gave the exact instructions. “Dad, we won’t let you down this time, honest. You’ll see,” vowed the pair. Dad smiled. That year was different. Every day the two worked, and slowly, they could see the plants were getting larger. They saw the fruit was small and not yet ripe, but it was there. As the plants grew larger and started producing, the boys got excited. “I can’t wait for Dad to come home and see this. He won’t believe it!” “We did it! Dad will be so proud of us,” said the other.
It seemed as if the summer would never end. Finally, the letter came, “I will be home in two weeks.” When that day came, the boys were up early watching for their dad.
Finally, way down the road, they saw a small figure of a man; they took off running. When the boys reached him, they almost knocked him over. They grabbed him and laughing; they dragged him to the garden; it amazed him. Their father looked at the garden in disbelief. It was bursting with healthy plants.
As the boys watch him in silence, the father’s eyes filled with tears and, without a word, turned to them, and opening up his arm, they rushed to him.
It overwhelmed the father with pride. The boys were proud, too; they had not let their father down.
As the pastor finished, he looked across the congregation and asked, “Have you been about our Father’s business? Are you excited about His return, or will you be like my brother and me that first year, not wanting to face him?”
If you don’t know what to do, ask Him. Pray for others to come to Christ, for other Christians under persecution, for our Nation. God will take it from there. The Bible says some plant, some water, some reap.
John 4:35
“Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” It’s harvest time.
The takeaway: Be about the Father’s business, whatever He has given you to do.
