Lamentations 3:22-23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

It may be early, but it’s summer and early morning we (the cat and I) can go outside. My peas and strawberry plants are reaching fruition in fruiting and the birds are chirping, the cat is happier outside. It is not too buggy yet, I wrapped up with an old sheet for a blanket for protection anyway. Life is good within the small slice of the 6am morning before time marches on. 

The cardinal chirping was clear, there are distinct calls for each bird, was it warning or song? (Many think the cardinals are visits from our family members – well they would be warning us too as well as encouraging us to keep moving forward and be fruitful. Truly the warnings and encouragements of life are to keep moving forward always anyway…)

There are dangers in the world, for birds yes, and for us too. The best warning is to guard against the drain of our fruitfulness, for stresses and unknowns come but we are to stay solid upon the Rock of the Lord’s support and the fertile ground of His enrichment. We need to always grow and grow in all ways – especially in Patience and in Piety. There are times that things work out and other times we have “what ifs?”… and yet each morning is reset as new, there is a time to just pause and pray. This is the time to stop racing thoughts, just work, praise, pray, play, and participate in life. There is a season for everything, like Ecclesiastes 3 recounts – and we are to ask the Lord to help us “number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” – which to me means to strike when the iron is hot, and change directions when it is not!

Proverbs 19:20-121 Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days. There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand. 

After my fruitful container garden (may not look pretty but it is pretty secured against the groundhog and rabbits) is harvested from strawberries and peas – the early season is done, in a couple of weeks, maybe the tomatoes will be planted, got to still buy those, and maybe my sitting outside will be different again. Life and seasons change quickly. But pray the sun still rises and mornings still come with new mercies and more and different fruitfulness. 

These garden fruits take time to develop and within us, if we picture fruitfulness – we can gain it – by wisdom – and ask for the Lord to lay HIS Fruit upon us for His usefulness of our work for HIM (and ourselves). The fruits of the Spirit (Romans 12) are: JOY, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. These are all to be applied and accepted with LOVE. That is the harvest of the Lord in us.

Amen 

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Solomon laments not always understanding life and surely observes life in Ecclesiastes 3 – but especially he knows that God is in charge – and knows there is a time for everything:

Ecclesiastes 3 NIV

A Time for Everything
There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
    a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

Whatever is has already been,
    and what will be has been before;
    and God will call the past to account.

And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
    in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?