PLANTING SEASON! 3/25/12

LET’S LOOK at some questions that only those who lived back in the day, can answer. Why do we have spring break? Who started it? On the internet it says; look instead for Easter vacation, because that is what it used to be called. Actually it was a spring necessity in the mid west, and later on was adopted in other states and was referred to as Easter vacation. It was to allow families to travel and be together for the Easter festivities. Somewhere in the 60 and 70's it became spring break, which has spelled disaster in most of the highly popular spring break resorts.

THE ORIGINAL plan was for the whole family to plant, because of the short amount of time to seed the field for the best harvest, which kept the family in food and income. But school age children had double duty. They had to get up very early, plant and leave for school and return shortly before dinner and work until sundown. Today, I don’t see that as being equal opportunity and neither did they back in the day. Hence, two weeks in March the schools were closed for planting season.

I REMEMBER Easter vacation. It always came the week before Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful time of the year. A new dress, new shoes and a stinky perm on Saturday night. Easter sunrise service in Palos Verdes with the wind and waves for our musical background as we sang “Up from the grave He arose!” We had such great celebrations back in the day!

TODAY most families plan an outing, of sorts, for the last week in March. Sometimes it comes before Easter but most of the time; not! High Schooler’s and college students find this is a time to sow their wild oats instead of planting seeds to grow a harvest to eat, along with income. Most of the designated spring break resorts, would rather board up their stores and shops with a sign out front that says; detour to the right or left, but do not stop here. But money is to be made! So the welcome signs fly high and so do the vacationers.

GOD IS MINDFUL of the time to plant and the time to harvest. God is mindful of the importance of the time we need to replenish ourselves. In Matthew 13 Jesus teaches with parables. These are earthly stories with life changing meanings. In one, Jesus teaches about the sower. When one hears the word of God and does not understand it, it is because the evil one (Satan) has come and snatched it away. The word is sown on rocky ground; or among thorns in which one has no root and the other gets choked and is unfruitful. Ah, but then there is the good soil; where he who hears the word and understands it, can bear fruit and yield a harvest.

WHEN JESUS talks about the wheat and the tares, we begin to understand that He is talking about the kingdom of heaven. When a man sowed good seed in his field, and when no one was watching, another comes along and sows weeds in among his wheat. As they begin to grow together it is hard to separate one without damaging the other. So they let them grow together until the harvest. At that time the reapers will gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but the wheat is gathered and put into the barns.

“THE FIELD is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Matthew 13:38-39 The parable of the sower was understood by the listeners back in the day, because they knew about the rocky ground and the thorns. This parable teaches us that there are always true and false believers within the fellowship of those who profess to belong to God. Will it be the company we keep and the secrets we hide that will define us, or the fruit that we bear. By Jane Ann Crenshaw 3/21/12