The Fields are White unto the Harvest
(John 4:35)
By: Maxine M.

Sometime in EARLY summer, the 1st fruits of our garden we can begin to enjoy
Radishes, rhubarb, lettuce, strawberries bring a culinary delight! Oh Boy!!
All from those tiny seeds that in early spring we were so careful to deploy

These 1st fruits mature before the full-blown heat & tribulations of summer arrive
But by mid-summer melons, tomatoes and cucumbers are ready…for a beautiful harvest we strive
These plants will continue to bloom & produce as long as the vines are alive

Later, corn, squash and pumpkins will HURRY to ripen before summer’s end
Knowing it’s inevitable that a “killing” frost the fall months will send
Stopping the growing season, against which the gardener tries to defend

In life, these “growing” principles are reflected with each new baby born
With all the potential for growth…similar to that contained in a kernel of corn
A new life to be cultivated, watched over…with wisdom & knowledge adorn

Before long, in a young child, those 1st fruits of your labor start to appear
Nurtured by love, refined by prayer, perhaps watered with a tear
Protected from all the dangerous negative influences we, as parents, fear

Time moves onward, now they are developing into “summer fruit” all too soon
For SUDDENLY that child is a young adult, like a wayward vine we need to prune
Because those busy & energetic mid-life days can produce a “I have lots of time” tune

But our life’s seasons pass by quickly with our end soon coming into sight
Our growing and producing now SLOWING…oh, age can be such BLIGHT
BUT, like those late squash or still green tomatoes, STILL USABLE till that last final frosty night

Now we see over the ages, God’s law of growing & harvesting have always been in effect
The initial season of planting & growing using the best soil & fertilizer we can select
And fighting the thorns, thistles & weeds and their NOXIOUS influence they try to interject

His plan has shown how that 1st ripe sheath of grain was offered to God Himself through the priest
Followed SHORTLY by the gathering of the rest of the ripened 1st fruits in a celebrated feast
Then a drawing near of that final day…when the harvesting will have CEASED

REVIEWING, we’ve seen the early season of creation, the giving of the law…God’s Holy Word
He’s instructed through the prophets how humanity can grow by everything they’ve heard
How, like those pesky weeds, Satan has sent DISTRACTIONS that the Holy Spirit has deterred

We understand that Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice, like that 1st ripened sheath of grain
By being 1st to rise from the dead, emptying the tomb where He had lain
So it LOGICALLY follows that SOON, we as 1st fruits, will be gathered at the trumpet’s sweet refrain

All those who are ready NOW, gathered together like grain safely stored
Leaving “BEHIND”, to face the tribulation’s summer heat, those who salvation’s call, have ignored
Some will RIPEN EVEN THEN, producing fruit amid the condemned horde

But it will be a DIFFICULT challenging season…participants persecuted, martyred, stressed
For the end of this age will be coming soon…with a last battle that will really be a NO contest
Because one marvelous unique day, Jesus will stand on the Mt of Olives with the RAPTURED saints, whose sins are confessed

So, will you be among the 1st fruits…those KEPT from the hour of trial?
Or be in those FEW that come to believe as the HORRORS of the tribulation compile
Please, don’t be in the great MASSES who will still be unrepentant, lost and vile!

Because EVERY person’s final destination is determined by the decision we’ve made
A decision to accept the payment for THEIR sins…for which Jesus already paid
Or a decision to reject Him…let all knowledge, regard, notion of Him simply fade

But Harvest Days ARE coming…the CERTAINTY of Harvest laws cannot be denied
Be one of the 1st fruits TODAY!! Let His saving blood to YOUR life be applied
Don’t be caught still struggling to beat the frost…having never to THE SON complied