Harvest season has started in the valley where I live. Fruit is hanging from trees beconing to be picked before it's too late. "Too late" seems to be that moment of time where the fruit gives up it's final hold on the branch of the tree and falls to the ground. At that point, the orchardist usually just leaves it there. It cannot be sold for much of value because it's been bruised or marred in someway as a result of the fall.
Earlier in the season, those same orchardists were out in full force guarding their trees. Factors such as frost, wind or lack of water could have influenced the bearing of fruit. It is a warlike feeling as the caregivers are protecting the future harvest. Sometimes long hours of waiting just to see if one or two degrees of temperature affected a whole year's harvest. The days of watching the fruit mature bring hope as they are more hearty and can bear the challenges of weather.
This week I enjoyed my first taste of this year's peach crop. I was so excited to enjoy the fruit that I didn't bother to check it out to see if it was edible. It looked great! The fragrance of those peaches in the box filled my nostrils. Yum! I selected several from the box, put them in a sack and headed home to enjoy. At home, I washed a peach (getting off all that fuzz) anticipating the amazing taste to come.
What's this? Are those little bugs? Ack! Talk about disappointing! Dumb little bugs are in my beautiful peach! They looked wicked to me! In Joel 3, there is a description of the storage vats overflowing with the wickedness of people. Imagine thinking that you've stored something for the future and it has bugs in it! Bleah!
Immediately after that description of the storage vat problem is a statement that I've heard when people are being challenged to come to the Lord. "Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision. It is there that the day of the LORD will soon arrive." (Joel 3:14) I know that the last part of the verse is seldom attached to the first part. I do believe, though, that wherever a believer is present there is the opportunity for "the day of the LORD" to arrive. I know the phrase is also eschatological, but I believe it can be very present minded as well.
I know that there are missed opportunities every day - to share the love of Jesus, to pour myself out for others, to model the heart of God to a lost world. I pray as people watch me closer they will know that sometimes there are those little bugs in me, but the Lord God is able to cleanse them out of me and help me walk in faithfulness and truth.
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