The green grass was soft under my bare feet, and the hot sun beat down on my tanned arms and back. My parents were several rows deep in our garden’s corn crop, pulling the huge ears from the towering stalks and tossing them out to us. We’d catch the ones we could and collect the ones we missed, running them to the sturdy bushel baskets that lined the edge of the garden.

That year we harvested sixteen bushels of sweet corn—a superabundance for our family of five. But the large garden was filled with a variety of vegetables. All summer and into the autumn we’d snack off the growing plants, pick fresh food for dinner, and work together on big harvest days to pluck grapes, snap beans, and shuck corn.

That garden, tucked in the back corner of my childhood yard, has helped me to better appreciate Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel: "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the Master of the harvest to send out laborers for His harvest" (Luke 10:2).

Right there, in my own backyard, was a whole lotta work that needed to be done. And today, in our own communities, there is more work. Perhaps we are to sow the seeds of Truth and Charity among our neighbors. Or possibly we’re to help the growth of friends and acquaintances as their holiness and faith are pruned and matured. And maybe the Lord is asking us to work the harvest.

May the Lord, the Master of the Harvest, send out laborers and help us to know our role. Ask Him for guidance today.

[bctt tweet="The Lord is asking us to work the harvest. // Bonnie Engstrom " username="blessedisshe__"]

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