As most of you reading this article already know, I was raised in a time that most people raised a garden. Our garden covered about ¼ to ½ an acre and it was a job to take care of.

There were four boys and one girl in our family and taking care of the garden was our responsibility. I was the oldest so most of the work fell on me. I’m not complaining because being the oldest, I was physically bigger and stronger than my siblings. If they would have had to finish the hoeing and weeding, they would have been in the garden from daylight to dark.

The harvest from the garden was what we enjoyed through the rest of the year, but as a boy I did not think of the harvest while I was hoeing and weeding. The only thing on my mind was how hard I was working and the occasional blister on my hand. Then, when the harvest came, all I could think about was how hard it was to pick corn, dig potatoes and break beans. Later, while we were enjoying the harvest, I still did not relate the hard work to the reward of the food we were eating.

Only as I reflect on my days as a boy in the garden, can I see the reward. I took the food for granted because it was there. My parents would tell me that the work in the garden would be worth it when the snow was flying and we had good food to eat, but I never thought that way. I continued to dread the moments in the garden.

All of our life there are seasons and not all of those seasons are times that we enjoy the consumption of the harvest. There will always be seasons that are hard to get through. Planting and reaping are hard work but it is enjoyable to consume the results of that hard work.

Why is it so difficult to understand this inevitable truth? Why do we dread the effort it takes to have the abundance we all want in life? Would it have been better for me as a boy working in the garden if I would have had my thoughts on the delicious food I was going to enjoy when the snow was flying? My parents tried to tell me, why did I not hear them?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets at 240 Courthouse Parkway in Washington C.H. for Bible Study at 9:30 and in the lobby at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry.