Harvesting

Daily I traverse the highway from Saint Catherine to Kingston, Jamaica, and back for work. The vast fields of sugarcane stand regimentally as vehicles speed along the highway. It is refreshing to watch the harvesting process as the seasons pass from spring to summer, to autumn, and to winter, with the effects of the seasons generally the same except for when the rains come. There is great patience as we watch the tropical sunshine ripen the fruit, enhancing the texture to be savored by taste buds when the crystal grains reach supermarket shelves and, ultimately, kitchen tables.

The tractors clean and ready the fields, and soon, new suckers are planted. Daily sprays of water are seen wetting the fields —soon, streams flow into the surrounding river. The huge watering machinery will be taken away, and as the weeks pass, the plants mature, and extensive watering is no longer necessary.

The fields become covered in a sea of dense green sugarcane plants, swaying in the wind, heavy, ripe, and ready for harvest.

The morning dew is still fresh on the ground in the cool air as the day awaits the rising sun, when the harvesters converge on the fields, their frames small and insignificant among huge sugarcane plants. They are few, and the fields are plenty.

When will their task be o’er? The disciples had just completed a tour of duty and were no doubt tired, tested, and tried. Jesus called the Twelve and gave them power and authority over devils and to cure diseases; then, He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick (Luke 9:1–6). The work was great, so after these things, the Lord appointed another seventy-two and sent them also, two by two, into every city and place where He would come (Luke 10:1).

The work of the harvest continues with us today.

As with the sugarcane, hardly anyone remembers the process of planting and growing or the labor of the reapers as we enjoy the sweet crystals at our table in their various forms. Still, there is victory in spirit when the harvest is reaped, lives are changed, and others come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

May we continue to give glory and honor to God through harvesting!

Elizabeth Ida Cain