It’s harvest right now. The crop has been taken, exposing the land for what it is.
As part of the process, a plow rips through the sod, upending the solid ground - tearing deep and creating uneven, nearly-impassable furrows where once it was smooth and provided structure and nourishment for a plant.
To leave it as it is over winter would harden the terrain, making it impossible for any new seed to be sown in the spring. What good is the field if it is unable to do what it was created for?
Thus, the violent ripping and tearing is necessary.
A pass from the disc continues the assault, breaking apart clods and refining them into smaller bits. The powdery, soft soil becomes the perfect growing environment, receptive to a tiny seed which will ultimately sprout into many shoots and plants.
To add insult to injury, the entire field is covered in foul-smelling manure, which is spread and dug into the soil. As is often the case in life, something ugly becomes beautiful. This undesirable, horrid waste provides just the right nutrients to fertilize the soil, spurring the plant to not only grow, but thrive.
In short, the process is necessary even though it seems destructive. In order for something to grow, something else must die. In order from something to grow, something needs to break down to prepare for the new. So it is in nature, and so it is with humans.
Right now, the plow is cutting deep. It is an upheaval of what was, it is confusing, it is unpleasant, and it is ugly. The exposed soil is covered in parasitic gulls who pick, choose, and take. The land is stripped, laid bare, unprotected.
But even in the midst of it, I trust the Farmer. He knows what He’s doing.
Each time I feel the cut of a new pain, insult, or devastation, I visualize the Farmer, standing on the edge of the field. He is the one Who has the plan. He is the Master of all timing. He keeps a watchful eye over the process. Nothing - no detail - escapes His notice.
Although He doesn’t orchestrate the aberrations to the plan - the accounted for hiccups which attempt to threaten progress and the process, He is ready for them. His whole existence is “pivot” - a Divine Pivot - which means that every aberration and hiccup is turned from a mistake to an adjustment. The end game - the desired end result - is no surprise to Him. In His infinite wisdom, He saw it coming and was ready for it.
My part in all this is to keep my eyes on Him and await His direction. Even when what He asks me to do, and that includes waiting, seems puzzling and ineffective, I know. I KNOW that I will smile when I look back and see what and how He did, combining all the brokenness, the hiccups, and yes, the obedience, into an end result far beyond what I could have asked for and imagined.
Trust and obey. For there’s no other way.
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