Harvest of Blessings

It's fall in Central Illinois, and everywhere you go cornfields are being harvested. Autumn leaves are just starting to show a change of color; pumpkins symbolizing fall festivities squat on every corner. The shrieking winds that accompany the arrival of autumn yield deference to the peals of a church bell. It's small town America at its finest with little trace of finery.

If I have just painted a picture of a quaint country town with religious country folk, it would not be an entirely inaccurate depiction of where I have been working lately. On the surface, one could appreciate the romantic, whimsical charm of the small town atmosphere. The work of a Bible instructor doesn't call for a shallow involvement in any town, however; and the deeper I look, the picturesque scene becomes traced over with reality.

Since I began working in this district I can scarcely get down a single street without being invited into countless homes as I give my survey. The less well-off seem to be the most generous in this respect. Perhaps they just have pity on me as I walk the streets in the increasingly chilly temperatures; in a way, inclement weather is quite an ally.

Sharon* invited me in to talk to her. Already a Christian, she told me how she has struggled to read her Bible; only recently she graduated from a child's Bible to a simple translation of an adult Bible. As health topics came up and I told her about the upcoming cooking school, she informed me that she had been praying God would send a woman into her life to teach her some better cooking to improve her health. We prayed before I left.

Norma* came to the door to answer my survey. In answer to the question, "Have you ever wondered, 'If God is so good, why does He allow so much suffering?'" she responded by telling me she had been asking that all afternoon after finding out that her son had broken his back. She then invited me in to visit, saying that she hadn't at first because she had just decided to get a drink. My coming by, she said, was just what she needed that afternoon and agreed that I could come back to study the Bible with her next week.

So I find that no town is ideal--there is suffering everywhere. There are those who are prejudiced, hurt, confused or simply uninterested. But I have been blessed already this fall to see the promise of two harvests. I am already reaping blessings, and I think that harvest value may be a great deal more significant than the corn being harvested in the field by my house.

"Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!" John 4:35

*Pseudonym