From Grain to Fruit

Sure, here's the translation of the provided text from Bulgarian to English: --- What do you want to happen through and in your life? What gives meaning to your getting up in the morning? Where do you find the strength to work, shop, repair, clean at home, cook, raise children, think about so many things at once, plan and dream? Why do you think you continue to face the challenges of each day, each month, each following season and year? The answer lies in a small word with enormous significance: goal. We find the meaning to continue even in moments of greatest pain, fatigue, and despair because there is something placed in our hearts that keeps us alive physically and spiritually. This is God's purpose and intention for the world, which is fulfilled individually for and through each human soul. What is this universal thing that God wants to achieve for all people? God wants to give us salvation and eternity in His presence. He desires it for you, for us, for those we love, for those we dislike, for those we think even don’t deserve it. This was His desire for Judas, for that thief on the cross who mocked Him, for Hitler, for Stalin, for everyone, absolutely everyone. To reach the moment of personal conscious choice, where one chooses Life or death, there is something else, and that is the hearing of the good news. Do you understand why you are alive? You are alive to sow. This is the first step towards achieving the eternal meaning set by the Creator for all humanity. The first step is also towards making sense of the storms, pains, battles, labor, and fatigue, the joy and hope in your own life. In realizing that everything we experience as society, but also as individuals, has meaning, our strength is hidden. Spring has come, bringing with it many uncertainties. What should we do, is it meaningful to do it, will it yield the desired result, what if everything fails, if the future is bleak? Who can tell us? In his gospel, Luke tells a parable in which the Lord Jesus describes a farmer. He, the farmer, or the sower, goes out to sow seeds. He throws seeds, and they fall on different places, on different soils, and the circumstances for each seed determine whether and how much fruit it will bear. Notice that the sower does not try to calculate what percentage of the crops will be worth the labor and efforts. He knows there will always be losses, and these losses do not depend on him. But he also knows there will be seeds that will "spring up" successfully, withstand the cold winter, and sprout in spring to ripen into golden amber by summer. The seed is God's word. You, we, everyone who believes in God, "sows" consciously or unconsciously - through words, actions, through a gaze, through a message, through sharing on social media, through the love we give or don’t give, through every inhale and exhale, "for in Him we live and move and have our being". (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 17, verse 28) Sowing is a visible and obvious process. We have seeds in our hands - God's word and the message of reconciliation. We have the strength in our hearts that comes from the joy of our personal salvation. Joyful people cannot hide their smiles. We have a perimeter for sowing, these are the people who see, know, and communicate with us. What follows? Care for what is sown follows. If you are a person who has never been engaged in cultivating crops, particularly wheat, you might easily think that after sowing, you have just a few months of rest and waiting for the wheat ears. But no! You have quite a bit of work before you reach the point of anticipation. The labor the sower puts forth is in two directions - to fight off pests affecting the crops and to influence the conditions in which the wheat grows. The pests are clear. They are the external threat - harmful insects, weeds. Everything that takes advantage of the growing ears, which "steals" from the resources, the good nutrients in the soil and from the health and life of the crops themselves. How does the good farmer realize there’s a problem with the future harvest? By observing it very carefully. He is sensitive to all changes, to the emergence of disease or damage, to anything new and unplanned. How does the best farmer combat pests and their danger? By being prepared in advance, by knowing them well, and anticipating their presence at one or another stage of crop growth. There will always be pests because they go where they might be able to take something. If we view care for the crops as spiritual service, our responsibility as farmers is to first know who the pests are and to be on the lookout for their appearance. In the parable of the sower, some mentioned pests are the thorns and weeds that choke the wheat and cause it to perish. Jesus explains to his disciples that these choking "thorns" are life's troubles and worries, greed and careerism, the desire to just have fun and not think about anything important, said in our words. Besides this type of pests, there are also unfavorable conditions like compact or stony shallow soil, where the seed either cannot sprout or fails to take deep root and withers in the strong sun. Well, since the parable talks about nothing else but sowing, why consider that there’s something else we should be doing? Because we follow the lives of apostle Paul, apostle Peter, apostle John, Timothy, Tabitha, Priscilla and Aquila, all New Testament biblical heroes and especially the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. They didn’t just deliver speeches and seminars, didn’t merely post an article in a blog or upload a picture with a good message on Facebook during holidays. They cared for and paid attention to the people entrusted to them. They truly and practically loved them, instructed them, served them, rebuked them, encouraged them. They helped them grow and mature. They didn’t just create good acquaintances but disciples through friendship, personal sacrifice, and example. This is a process that requires time, emotions, efforts, sacrifices, and many times disappointments. But it’s worth it for those last few seeds that fall on good soil. The kingdom of God can be likened to a man who sows seed in the ground, sleeps and rises, night and day, while the seed sprouts and grows, without him knowing, for the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. And so, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and late rains. You too, be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is at hand. --- This seems to be the most passive stage for the farmer while waiting for the harvest. Again, only seems so. In fact, this is the stage where everyone grows – both the farmer and the crops. To a large extent, it's also a time for rest, which for some of us can be quite a challenge. "How can I not do something?", "How can I keep silent?", "Things are going badly!" are all thoughts that will wrestle with a farmer who relies too much on himself and his work. It's not bad to be responsible people. On the contrary, we should not remain passive where we can intervene, help, to change things for the better. Again, a good farmer knows what depends on him and what does not. He also knows from experience that there is a natural period of growth that occurs hidden in the soil, and he himself cannot observe it. This doesn't discourage him, especially when it's not his first sowing. He has seen how things happen before. It is possible he has also suffered great losses because some circumstances are not in his control. Here is the moment of our trust in God – we have seen and know what the Lord has done in our lives personally and in those of our acquaintances. God and His faithfulness can be found in the immutable law of multiplication and the birth of new life. The seed bears fruit because these are the physical and biological laws to which all living things adhere. The spiritual seed bears fruit because "My word, which goes out from My mouth, will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 55, verse 11). This is the part that is not ours – the very transformation deep in the human heart, which only the Holy Spirit can accomplish. How long does the period of waiting for the fruit last? There is no set term. We usually expect quick results or, if not quick, at least calculable – if we've given this and that much, it should by now... There is no such rule to be found in God’s word. The only thing God leaves us as a command is to wait with faith, not with sight. The grain of wheat stays hidden underground for months before the gentle green shoots emerge from the black soil in spring. Initially, they are very small. So small that you might not even notice them and look up to the sky with another impatient question. However, if you wait with confidence in Him who gave both the snow and the rain, and now the spring sun, you will begin to notice that the earth is no longer so black. It’s greening already. - We reap “What then, is Paul? What is Apollos? Are they not ministers through whom you believed? And each works according to what the Lord has given him. I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 3, verses 5-7, the bold print is ours). Oh, a dream goal – to reach this moment! Everything makes sense, the answers to all questions appear, the pain is forgotten. Only the wonderful feelings of joy, victory, and gratitude remain. Gratitude to whom, though? Many times, when we “reap,” there will be people who sincerely congratulate or thank us. We ourselves, remembering all the difficulties we’ve gone through, may begin to accept every compliment as something logical and even necessary. Perhaps even obligatory. The only thing we need to know about this stage is that it is just as difficult as all the preceding ones – its difficulty lies in keeping our hearts as farmers. It's not you and me who made the seed bear fruit. We participated and that is the greatest honor and joy the Lord can grant us – to be good servants for Him. Dear heart, the harvest may be very far off in time from you at this moment. Maybe you are at the “spring season” where you already see the shoots, or you are one of the lucky ones who grab the sickle to gather the ripe grains. In all of this, know that your labor is worth it. Be encouraged and maintain your self-awareness as a farmer. Love, work, pray, seek God’s face. Look up with a smile and hope. We believe that the Lord is also looking at you with a smile from heaven. *Bible quotes are according to the text of the Bible, new translation from the original languages © Bulgarian Bible Society 2013. Collage: Kiril Veselinski