Healthy things grow.

You know this is true. Have you ever seen a kid after you haven’t been with them for a couple months or years? They shoot up like crazy! And that never concerns us – in fact it would be of concern if they didn’t grow . . . because healthy things grow.

Healthy things also need to be pruned and harvested.

My family went to a corn maze this last week. The endless rows of corn were beautiful and green and standing so tall. Eventually, that corn – if left to itself – will wither or be overtaken by its own weight. It must be cut and harvested to be of good use, to not be wasted. Corn is harvested. Apple trees are pruned back to produce healthier, more robust yields.

Growth and Harvest. Both of these truths apply to people too – in our spirits and gifts, and in our character.

We should grow. In seasons of growth, we are surrounded by good light, good soil, and we consume good nutrients. Growth is healthy. After a season of growth, though, there must be a harvest – a collecting – a giving. Left to unaddressed growth, we will eventually wither, or collapse under our own weight – our own self-focus.

We do not grow for the sake of growth – we grow for the sake of harvest. To be offered up and out as good nourishment for those around us – the lessons, wisdom and grace we have received in our growth seasons is given out to share at the harvest.

Are you in a growth season? Then grow. Dig in those roots and soak up all you can.

Are you being harvested? Go willingly to be of good use to your community.

And remember, the seasons change in cycle. When one ends, another begins.