“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy.” - Psalm 126:5
“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
- Galatians 6:9
There are two sounds that can wake up an entire small town before daylight.
One is the local contingent of roosters.
The other is an old diesel tractor.
Personally, I wish they’d both sleep another hour.
About the time I found the warm spot on the porch, I heard that familiar chug…chug…rattle…roar.
And with a coffee cup in one hand and his closed Bible in the other, my human headed to the fence to watch.
Naturally, I tagged along.
The first trip is always the roughest.
That old tractor digs into hard ground that looks like it hasn’t smiled in months.
Dust flies.
Clods tumble.
It doesn’t look like anything good is happening.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think the tractor was ruining a perfectly good field.
My human just smiled and said, “You can’t have a harvest until you’ve turned the ground.”
I’ve been thinking…
Maybe that’s why God sometimes lets His truth plow through our comfortable little lives.
We call it disruption.
God calls it preparation.
Then comes planting.
Tiny seeds disappear into the dirt where nobody applauds, nobody takes pictures, and nobody can even see them anymore.
After that…waiting.
I’m not especially gifted at waiting.
If supper is thirty seconds late, I begin checking to see if the family has forgotten I exist.
But farmers know something dogs—and people—often forget.
Growth is happening even when nothing is showing.
Before long, that same tractor comes rolling back with the combine.
The field that once looked empty now bows with grain or corn.
The work that seemed slow suddenly looks worthwhile.
Isn’t that just like the Lord?
He plows our hard hearts with conviction.
Plants His Word deep inside us.
Waters us with His grace.
And patiently waits for fruit to grow.
God never confuses today’s dirt with tomorrow’s harvest.
There’s a sermon in that.
And every pass across that field reminds me that God is always working beneath the surface—even when all I can see is dirt.
So if your life feels like a freshly plowed field today, don’t lose heart.
The Great Farmer has never abandoned a field He intended to harvest.
A tractor teaches us that every season has a purpose.
There’s a time to break the ground, a time to plant, a time to cultivate, and finally a time to rejoice in what God has grown.
If you quit after the plowing because the field still looks empty, you’ll never see the harvest.
If life feels like the plowing season, don’t lose heart.
The ground may be rough, but the Farmer knows exactly what He’s doing.
Stay faithful.
And Keep following Him…
One row at a time.
He hasn’t asked us to do everything.
But like that big, green tractor, He’s just asked us to be faithful with today’s field.
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
