But the laborers are YOU...

There are dreams and aspirations in my heart that I keep suppressed (no one is suppressing them BUT me - I'm learning that one the hard way, as usual) along with thoughts of kindness, gestures, and good deeds toward others. Not to mention the gifts, skills, and talents that I keep buried in the sand, safely kept in tact until the shrewd Taskmaster returns on the day of reckoning and rewards me by calling me a 'wicked and slothful servant' - ouch! 

I am beginning to believe that the day of reckoning comes for each of us more than just once at the end of our lives. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have all come to me at various times in my life to take a surprise inventory of my life and found me wanting (sounds better than lacking, doesn't it?). And their intent has not been to make me feel like a wicked and slothful servant at all (sounds a lot worse than condemned, right?), but rather to encourage me to be being 'about my Father's business.' 

Just this week, I listened and watched as leaves fell to the ground and realized just how much I love even the very smells of the fall season! At the same time, I heard very softly and several times in my spirit, "the harvest is passed, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." (Jeremiah 8:20) I began to feel one of those 'reckonings' coming on, and I was forced to ask myself, "What have I done?" and "What am I doing?" Not that it was too late, but that it might be - soon (like hearing the end from the beginning). It was a gentle but stern warning to get busy with what I perceive God to be telling and leading me to do so as to avoid future regrets of missed opportunities.

Just imagine, if you will, tilling and cultivating soil (a lot of work!), planting and watering seeds, watching them grow into mature plants, and then missing the harvest. Why? Because we got tired of waiting? Distracted? Offended? Deceived? Lazy?(sounds better than wicked and slothful, don't it?) Whatever the reason, missing harvest would be bad enough. But to realize that we are also still not saved would be a double whammy. That is like not being called to the dinner table at the end of the day because you didn't finish your chores!

September 23, 2010 was another day of reckoning for me, the day my son ended his life. Thank God that he was saved, despite opposing views concerning the eternal fate of those who commit suicide (One can live to a 'ripe old age' - pun intended - and still not be saved in the end). But two years later I am again being asked, in a sense, to give an account for my life and my actions. Am I still not saved? Mature in Christ? Perfected in love? Do I still not get it? That there is a really big harvest, white and ripe, awaiting me right outside my front and/or back door...maybe even closer?

Lord of the harvest, I really do want to hear you say to me, 'Well done, good and faithful servant...enter into the joy of your Lord!' But I realize that I won't hear that if I continue to withhold from You the very things that You placed in me to accomplish the good works that You have already prepared for me to walk in. Please help me to uncover what I have kept hidden away from You and others and to become the laborer that You have called me to be for this generation. Amen