Peace
Luscious strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, and white Silver Queen corn glare at me from the catalogue’s pages and suddenly I am aware of the excess moisture in my mouth. The seeds have not yet been planted in the ground, but they have in the desires of my palate. The desire that cannot be seen on the outward person is what Jesus referred to when he said, “they (the fields) are white already to harvest.” He has sown the seeds of faith and His grace has produced growth. Since the seeds had only recently been planted, the seventy disciples Jesus sent out could not see the white corn beneath the shucks when they pulled them back. Yet Jesus had harvested their faith and saw that their seed kernels were ready to be planted. Masters of faithfulness, they trusted his instructions. Peace, the word that came from his mouth, entered their hearts, rested upon them and entered the hearts of those they touched who desired peace. As they followed Jesus’s instructions to not worry about cultural norms, laws, and traditions, they came to know peace’s empowering quality. How our warring hearts long for it. It is the quality that enables servants to walk in unusual, difficult, or unaccepting places. Though a whirlwind whips through your fields today, may peace, the spirit of the harvest, grow deep within your soul and culminate in joy.
John 4:35
Luke 10:1-10