In Other Words Tuesday ~~~ Prepared to Produce

My model in the picture is my dad in his good old irrigation boots and his trusty shovel.

Our quote this week is, "the condition of our soil makes a difference in the outcome of what we produce. We need to prepare well and then we will have abundant fruit. To prepare sometimes you have to plow the ground under and burn last year's stubbles left over. God will not sow seeds on a field that is not prepared. It's a waste of seed If we do our part God will do His part. Wayne Corderio

 For over fifty years I have watched my dad farm everything from grass hay, to wheat, alfalfa, and potatoes. In spite of the fact he worked hard on the fields the year before they still needed to be prepared each year in provision for the new crop. The last year’s crop had to be plowed under in order to prepare the soil for the new seeds. The fields were not only plowed under once but several times over and over again. After tearing them up they then needed to be smoothed out and corrugated in order for the water to flow thru evenly.

 

The thing that amazed me the most was the fact that no matter how many rocks we picked out of the field the year before each time dad plowed up the fields there were more rocks to pick. We use to think that was the number one crop grown in Powell Butte was rocks. Whether we felt like it was a lost cause or not it was something we had to do if we wanted a good crop. No doubt about it the better the preparation the more abundant the fruit or the crop that it would yield.

 

Our Christian lives are no different. The better the preparation of our souls the more abundant of a crop we will produce in our spiritual walk. Diligence and determination are the driving factors needed to start the process. Old habits, old crops, last year’s stubbles, bad attitudes, and wrong choices all have to be plowed under in order to prepare our souls for new crops yielding God’s will in our lives. Even the fields that grew good crops last year have to be plowed under and prepared all over again in order to yield an abundant harvest.

 

If we aren’t willing to prepare our souls for new growth, new seeds, or better crops then we better not expect God to sow seeds in our unprepared heart because He won’t. It’s a waste of seed, time, and effort. God is more than willing do His part but we have our part as well in the process and that’s getting ready for the new. We have to prepare the field of our heart to accept God’s word and be obedient, to believe in His promises, and trust in His power. However, what comes first is the plowing under of the old and making room for the new. It’s not a onetime course, a once in a life-time event, an evening course offered once a year. It’s something that is never ending.

 

The more diligent and determined we are the more likely we are to get the field of our hearts in the conditions they need in order to produce. It would be great if we were able to get rid of all the old stuff in a onetime plowing but each preparation brings up more stuff that needs to be dealt with. Indeed clogs and clogs of dirt and grime in our lives that will need to be smoothed out and corrugated. Fields that are corrugated well enough with evenly spaced out trenches that allow the living water of Jesus Christ to flow thru our fields freely and evenly.

 

All of it is a process that goes on unnoticed, behind the scenes, to yield a crop evident to all. Truly what we get out of our efforts all depends on what we are willing to put in to it. The corn in Safeway is not in its natural habitat, it was raised in fields prepared to produce. The faith you see in someone’s life didn’t just show up there, it was raised in a heart that was prepared to produce.

 

How prepared are you to produce? Have you disposed of the old first and plowed up the field of your heart getting ready for the new? Prepared to produce is a choice we all need to be willing to make, act upon, and work at. The choice is ours. It’s a choice we’ll never regret as the seed, time, and effort put into it are never wasted.

 

Prepared to produce, prepared to yield!

 

I’m the host this week and for the rest of the month of October as we continue on with this series on harvesting a crop God can be proud of. Now that we have the preparation of the ground taken care of the next step is the picking out and planting of the right seeds. The quote we will be using is Gal 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. In other words, in the end we may not like what we reaped but it’s what we sowed. We need to start out right, picking the correct seeds.
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Others participating are:

Mamas Little treasures
Mr. Linky is giving me trouble again: Put your name and site in the comments and I will add it so people can get to your writing as well as we share in this month's harvest.