Maybe because it is finally Spring and the snow has finally melted in this northern region of the United States. (Even though I am sure there are still some frozen mounds of ice and dirt in some grocery store parking lots.) But I have been reflecting a lot about fields.
Fields require work and preparation. A great part of this is God's work and a portion God invites us to participate with Him. Despite futile desires to take my wife's hair drier outside and thaw the ground, the soil will not warm up. And even though I'm convinced my kids are trying to heat the entire neighborhood when they leave the backdoor upon, it won't make a dent. God in due season (pun intended) changes the weather through the cycles of calendar. It is the sun that warms up the earth and softens the ground. It is only then when the farmer can go and till the field and plant the seed. Just as it would be foolish for the farmer to warm the earth on his own, so too it would be waste of time and resources to plow the field and plant the seed when it is frozen solid.
In our lives God prepares fields where He invites us to go and do His work. The preparations are already in place. The ground is already thawed and maybe already tilled. We may just need to plant the seed. That field is already set and God just needs to send the workers.
But...
There is another field that needs to be prepared. What about the heart of the workers? What about my heart? The field of my heart can be colder and harder than the field I am be invited to. Do I let the warmth of the sun and God's grace thaw my heart? Am I willing to let my heart be tilled and turned over so that new life can be planted? Sometimes it may feel comfortable under a blanket of snow and when it begins to melt, I may be tempted to try throw more snow and ice on top. Maybe I try to block the rays of the sun by blocking it and protect that precious ice and snow that surrounds and "safeguards" the field of my heart.
What am I really doing? Am I blocking out God and His grace? God wants to give us more of Himself. He wants us to know Him and His love. God wants to send us out to share His grace and mercy with others. And by being sent and doing His work, He reveals Himself even more.
In Matthew 13 Jesus shares the Parable of the Sower where a farmer goes out and scatters seed in the field. Whether or not the seed takes root depends upon if the ground is prepared to receive it. Does the seed fall on rocky soil, amongst the weeds, exposed where the birds can snatch it up, or fertile soil ready for the seed? But what if the farmer never went out? What if the farmer decided, "You know I am comfortable staying in the farmhouse today. Planting the seed must be for someone else because my place is here not there." Not only would the work not get done, but the farmer would miss the opportunity for grace of knowing God deeper.
There is a field that God is invited us to work. Maybe it is a new field, maybe it is the same field but He is offering a new perspective and approach or the opportunity to return back to what first led us there, to recenter ourselves. And there is the field of our hearts. Have we let our hearts become hard by complacency, comfort and security, anger and bitterness, fear and anxiety? Have I, consciously or unintentionally, reached a point where I do not let my heart be warmed and soften? Lord give us the courage to thaw our hearts... to let You in. Soften our hearts to know You, to know You more, to be loved.
Why do we worship? Because there is a God who desires for us to know Him more, to know new depths of His love, who calls us to trust Him more so that we can come to know that He will never let us go. There is a God who is not satisfied, who want us to be even closer to Him.
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