Then Jesus said, ‘God’s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows-he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain. When the grain is fully formed, he reaps-harvest time!” Mark 4: 26-29, Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language

“When the well is dry, we know the worth of water”
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac

Janine C. Hagan, Editor ecumininet online! We have had a long, hot, dry, summer. The heat has been hard on cities, crops, and creatures alike. High temperatures ignite tender tempers. Forest fires have raged. Leaves that normally begin to fall in late August started falling in July. Water restrictions have created new awareness of resources that we take for granted.

Every burst of rain made the difference. Each refreshing movement of moisture would bring with it an overflowing of relief. Air, fields, and lungs were once again cleansed. Water changed our perspective. We could contemplate the potential from the later growing cycle, anticipate a cooler autumn, and feel that sense which is both gathering-and-gratitude. It is a rhythm which brings harvest for all of our crops as well as for our hearts.

As “farmers” in faith-and-life, how do we cope with crops that are not-what-we-expected? Or what if the crops have become “burned-out,” or dried up? What happens if our bodies, our spirits, our lives or our faith should change? What is it that God wishes to “harvest” in us? What miracles of growth are arrested or attested to in our lives?

This issue of ecumininet online! has asked it’s writers to speak to “Harvest and Health” from their hearts. Their answers flow in a similar pattern to the Parable of the Growing Seed and the quote from Ben Franklin. Our writers share this mystery of how the “seeds” make it from ripeness-to-reaping, and how the natural aspects of life and nature remind us of our own faith journey. Harvesting, in all senses of the word, becomes a community effort as well as a personal task of finding our own and God’s purpose-in-the-process. From the “stem to the bud, to the ripened grain,” it is the rhythm that God writes upon our hearts to open us for sharing our deepest selves.

Blessings and thanks for your part in the harvest of 6 years of sharing through ecumininet online!

Editor-in-Chief
Janine@ecumininet.com

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