Lesson Learned From a Patch of Peas

There's a house not too far from mine, which we pass each time we come and go. For the last several years it's been empty for long periods of time, but lately the owners have attempted to rent it out. The last ones there planted a huge patch of peas this past Spring. I've watched with interest as they grew and budded. I've been very nosey about gardens this year and have checked them all out pretty thoroughly from my car as I've driven past. I was intrigued by the fact that these people planted nothing at all but peas. I wondered if they meant to sell them or if they were just especially fond of them, or if they were the only seeds available to them.

So the peas put out blooms and I started counting weeks, watching to see when peas formed. Just about the time I noticed the first long slender peas, I realized that the house was again empty. The renters seemingly disappeared overnight.

As we drove past the place yesterday, I saw that the pea patch had been completely harrowed under. I was shocked. Just Thursday I'd noted how full the peas had gotten, and said "Oh they are just right for picking!" I pointed the patch out to Chance and he said "What a shame that the people who planted them didn't stay long enough to enjoy their harvest." He began to talk about the seed sown and the harvest left behind. I enjoyed his talk but I had a different take on it.

"The property owner missed out on that blessing." "What do you mean?" Chance asked me. "Well, the Bible says that there are those who will harvest crops they didn't plant. That landowner had the opportunity to take in a harvest and yet he chose to ignore the blessing and he's let it go just as surely as the ones who planted it and moved before getting their harvest!"

"Suppose the people left without paying him? Surely harvesting those peas and putting them in the freezer for the coming year would have repaid him a small portion of the trouble he'd gone to in letting the house? And he'd have had more than one picking from the peas, because they would have continued to bloom and put out for their usual season. He might even have had enough to sell some of his crop to others. Yet now he's got neither renters nor the crop. He's lost out on all counts."

Chance shook his head. "There's a great deal to watch for isn't there? Not just to be mindful of gathering in our own harvests but looking for the opportunities presented to us to harvest where we haven't labored."

I thought about that conversation again today as we passed that house and I looked over at the torn up pea patch. I think I'm going to think about it for quite some time to come.