Prairie Roots

I grew up in a small prairie town where agriculture was IT. Even if your family didn’t farm, your livelihood was somehow connected. Teachers, business people, and storeowners understood that somewhere down the line, their livelihood had its roots in the soil. That’s why, at harvest time, nobody questioned the necessity of students taking time off from school for harvest, or the fact that machine shop owners might have to make a special trip to their stores if a desperate farmer needed a part long after hours.

In that part of the world, it is not uncommon to see the glare of halogen lights dotting the landscape in the dead of night as farmers fight to get their crops off before the coming frost. Combines chomp away at the rows of swathed grain, while huge tandem grain trucks wait close by to receive the threshed kernels once the combine’s ‘hopper’ has reached its capacity. Often, these grain trucks drive alongside the combine, aligned under the combine’s spout as they load ‘on the fly’. For almost an entire month, the smell of grain dust is in the air.

These are my memories of growing up, and I often miss the tension and excitement that seem to naturally permeate the autumn harvest. I know firsthand what Solomon meant when he said ‘To everything there is a season’, or Jesus’ words about ‘the fields being ripe for harvest’. There are times in life when you just have to buckle down and do it – work hard because it’s harvest time! There will be plenty of time for rest later.

I’ve had occasions in my writing life that are similar. If you work with an agent or publisher, you know about deadlines. Sometimes writing or promotional opportunities come along, and although you may be extra busy, you also know the motto ‘seize the day’! These can be exhilarating and productive times, but oh so tiring. Fortunately, whenever I am going through one of these seasons, I am reminded that ‘this too shall pass’. I just think of all those men and women out driving their combines and trucks for 18 hours straight. They might fall into bed with only a few hours sleep and have to do it all again, but in the end, they will reap a bountiful harvest.

So it is with our lives. Embrace the harvest times knowing that rest and reward are soon to follow.

This is the third of a series on my “prairie roots”.  Some aspects of these posts came from my first blog “Expression Express” (Now defunct.) I hope you enjoy this look into what made me the person I am today. 

Part 1

Part 2