Early in the morning, before the sun can touch the dew, two
farmers walk the narrow roads out to their fields. They have always been
farmers, like their fathers and mothers before them. But they are not alike.
One loves her field, loves her work, loves Gods gifts that come through her
little plot. To her, the farm is alive, and she herself is part of it. The
other sows begrudgingly and waits impatiently and harvests without gratitude.
To her the plot is an object, a means, and she does not spend time there if she
has a choice. The affectionate farmer will observe the field, see what grows,
smell the soil, watch the seasons. She is attentive and will adapt her ways as
the field asks her to. The dismissive farmer, on the other hand, will be blind
to her field: she will plow when the soil is too wet, water on schedule
regardless of rain, and not know the difference between good bugs and bad bugs.
The affectionate farmer is a dynamic farmer, a farmer who will make mistakes
and learn from them, a farmer who will be satisfied with good work. The
begrudging farmer looks for opportunities to take shortcuts, does what she has
always done, and suffers the work she must do.
“All work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another,
and to God.” 1 In this parable it is the attentive, dynamic
farmer that works with love, who's work is a labor of love. We are called by
God that is Love to enter into God's work like the affectionate farmer.
We are like the dynamic farmer when we join
those who came before, who heard God speak “behold, I will do something new”:
behold, I've created out of nothing; behold, I go before you, travel light;
behold, I have made you a people; behold, I AM, even without a Temple; behold, my
mercy extends even to your captors; behold, I come to you helpless; behold,
death will not have the last say; behold, you are free from appeasing Me (and
each other). Behold, New Heavens and a New Earth.
This is our story: the story of a dynamic God
coming to us, speaking to us, saving us, in ways expected and unexpected. We
belong in this story where God does something new. Even our individual lives
reflect our Makers dynamic nature. I am not who I was twenty, five, or even one
year ago. Neither are our friendships or families or marriages. Neither are our
congregations or our towns. The ancients named the dynamic nature of the world
when they said “you cannot step into the same river twice”2.
So it is with love (and because of Love) that
we seek to become like the affectionate farmer who understands that the field
is alive. We, like the farmer, belong to a tradition that has an open posture.
She is attuned to things that she knows, like the coming of the seasons and the
names of the seeds. But she is also on the lookout for things she has not seen
before. Because she loves her field and is part of it, she will seek out ways
to be a better farmer. In our modern age, we call this “life-long learning”,
but don't be fooled by the sterile-sounding name: it is nothing short of love
for our fields.
However, most of us are not farmers and our
“love being attentive” can look many different ways. Maybe its more time in
silent places that sharpens our senses, maybe its the stimulation of books and
schooling. A hobby that is far out of our comfort zone might shed light on our
work. Or a mentor might guide show us a direction in which we can grow. Trying
to find common ground with someone that we “can't relate to” might sharpen our
eyes to see how the Spirit is at work.
Whatever the path, whatever the field, we will
act faithfully as we grow attentive to the new things that God is doing in our
midst. May the God who causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust give
us eyes to see and courage to join in to the coming forth of the New Heavens
and New Earth.
1 From The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran
2 Heraclitus of Ephesus
2 Heraclitus of Ephesus
Respectfully, Johnathan Schlabach
