Ripe for the Harvest

 by Jen Balkey


In planning and preparing the Women’s Ministry Leadership Team for a year of ministry I purchased a book that looked beautiful aesthetically and seemed like it would be biblically sound. However, it can really be hard to tell what you are going to get from it until you actually read it. Ladies, this book has been a great blessing to me as well as to my team as we have spent time discussing it together. This summer at Summer Sensation - Peaches in the Park when I spoke about
Persevering Through the Heat, I used material from this book. I also have given our upcoming speaker, Nicole Carlin, who is a gardener herself as well as a pastor’s wife, a flavor of what I am hoping for us to focus on during our time together by passing along a good part of a chapter of this book. I’d love to share an excerpt from it with you now.

The book is, The Well- Watered Woman: Rooted in Truth, Growing in Grace, Flourishing in Faith by Gretchen Saffles:

Life ebbs and flows in the rhythm of seasons. God, the Gardener of our souls, faithfully prunes, tends, weeds, and waters us to produce a harvest for His glory. There’s meaning in the in-between moments, and there’s a mission in the ever-changing growth of our souls. Not a moment goes by that doesn’t have eternal worth.

Today’s decisions affect tomorrow’s destination.
Today’s faithfulness affects tomorrow’s fruitfulness.
Today’s investment affects tomorrow’s blooms.

You have everything you need to live a flourishing life in Christ (see Ephesians 1:3). This doesn’t mean you’ll always see or even feel the flourishing, but when your roots run deep and your foundation is built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, the only possible result is a Spirit-led flourishing. This is something the world doesn’t understand, but it’s something it wants nonetheless.

In our quest for a fruitful life, it’s important to remember that blooms aren’t continuous. They come and go, but that doesn’t mean the moments in between are unnecessary or less important. Blooms result from the faithful labor done in the planting, the rooting, the growing, and the watering. You can’t enjoy a flower without the long process that brought it to that point. (p.258-259)