Waiting for Harvest: Opening the Gifts Within Us

Those who walk the fields to sow, casting their seed in tears,
will one day tread those same long rows, amazed by what’s appeared.
Those who weep as they walk and plant with sighs
Will return singing with joy, when they bring home the harvest.
Psalm 126: 5-6.


“Will he play ball too?” my brother asks a woman cradling an infant at the youth baseball field.


“We’ll have to see what gifts are inside of him,” she smiles.


He’s a few years from sliding home at a ballfield. But his mama is open to other possibilities. Music perhaps, art or scholarship. Her tiny boy is a bundle of unwrapped gifts waiting to open themselves to the world.
Her joy in his possibilities glows from her eyes. And she knows the one who gave the gifts. She sees His reflection in the child–imago Dei, the image of God.


No matter how old we get we are each a bundle of gifts waiting to unwrap themselves to the world. Some gifts show themselves early. Some gifts get stunted and never open.


Some blossom late and surprise us with a shock of color, motion, words.
The pain of birth brings a new bundle of gifts. But it takes the hurts of life to pull open latent gifts, unimagined qualities that, without seeding tears, would not open.


Sometimes we see a bundle but do not recognize the gifts. We assume there is nothing to open, nothing to give. But these bundles have wonderful gifts. They show us meaning in simplicity. Imago Dei again.


If we can see these bundles as gift bearers, they will teach us to open more of ourselves. They bestow their gifts and increase the harvest of our own.
We are imago Dei. Each of us a bundle of gifts that spends a lifetime opening. Seed tears plant crops that bring joy as the gifts come to harvest.
Wise eyes see the beauty in a tiny bundle whose gifts do not yet show.


Photo Credit: Pixabay

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Reposted from August 2016

24 Replies to “Waiting for Harvest: Opening the Gifts Within Us”

  1. I believe this realization could make it easier to treat ourselves and others with respect; we are all created in the image of God, with gifts to share. Thanks for this reminder, Nancy.

  2. Thank you for this encouraging word reminding us that we’re each uniquely gifted, made in the image of God! You stated this so poetically. This touched my heart: “No matter how old we get we are each a bundle of gifts waiting to unwrap themselves to the world.” And this: “But it takes the hurts of life to pull open latent gifts, unimagined qualities that, without seeding tears, would not open.” And also this: “We are imago Dei. Each of us a bundle of gifts that spends a lifetime opening. Seed tears plant crops that bring joy as the gifts come to harvest.
    Wise eyes see the beauty in a tiny bundle whose gifts do not yet show.”

    1. Yes, Melinda, that’s why we can never see a human life as something diminished in God’s eyes. We never know what he may do with that life. Thanks and God bless!

  3. Such a lovely picture you paint with your words in this blog. And they are also very true. I still find myself amazed as a new gift reveals itself in my life even at this age.

  4. I love this… My girls are 3 and 6 and we’re starting to see personalities and preferences but we also want to encourage them to explore without feeling boxed in. I try to use language that leaves their gifts open-ended as they grow into their own people.

  5. This is so beautiful! It’s such a great picture that reminds me we can’t force gifts on our children or ourselves. God gives us each talents and purpose, and it’s exciting to think of how He will use us!

    1. Right, Emily. Too many parents want to mold their kids into a shape God didn’t intend when our job is to help them take the shape he designed them to have. Thanks for reading and commenting. God bless!

  6. Thank you so much Nancy for that enjoyable read. I especially liked how you point out that it is our hurts that oftentimes “pull open latent gifts, unimagined qualities that, without seeding tears, would not open.”

    1. Yes, Christopher, our lives have meaning and purpose always–even if we don’t realize what they are. But when we do, we can make the most of life. Thanks for reading and commenting! God bless!

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