Harvest Prayer

Harvest Prayer

Ken Chapman

ENG/340

June 29, 2015

Erich Sysak

Harvest Prayer

        The summer had been the hottest summer in 50 years.  To make things worst there had been little rain in the last two years.  This made the ground hard and unyielding.   The crops were dying off and there didn’t seem like a solution in the near future.

        As the husband came in from the fields, he looked at his wife with a defeated face.  She came to him.  She put her rough hands in his and looked at him with a look that said, “God will provide.”

Husband:  I just don’t know what to do.   If we don’t get some rain soon all of our crops will die.  We won’t be able to pay our mortgage or any of other bills.

Wife:  Things will work out.  We just have to have faith and trust in God.

Husband:  I know that we must trust and have faith, but it’s so hard.  Year after year we have lost more and more of our crops.   Now it’s harvest time again.  It’s so hot that what we have left will burn in the sun if we can’t get it soon.  The ground is so hard it’s hard to sow the crops.  We need rain and we have been praying for rain for a long time now.  

Wife:  We must keep our faith.  We must not lose hope.

        The wife went back and finished dinner.  The husband noticed that it was a meager meal.  There was little meat in the stew that she made.  He also noticed that as meager as it was, his wife had made the tastiest stew he had tasted in a long time.  They clasped hands and bowed their heads and said a prayer.  They thanked God for the food that they had.  They thanked him for everything that they had, their house, their health and for their wonderful children and grandchildren.  Then they asked God to watch over the harvest and help them to have a productive crop.

        That night when the husband went to bed he prayed again.  This time he asked God to help him keep his faith and trust.  He said that he would trust God to do what he thought was best with the crops.  He slept very well that night.

        The next morning the husband got up before dawn.  He said his daily prayers, had some coffee and went to the fields.  As he was heading to the fields he noticed that it was already getting hot.  The air was muggy but moister than usual.  He wondered to himself, if maybe, just maybe, they might get some rain.

        As he started to sow the potato fields, the ground seemed a little softer.  It didn’t seem to take as much muscle to dig out the potatoes.  He still wished that he had enough money to hire workers to the job.  He also wished that the ground had been soft enough to plant more than just potatoes.  He knew that potatoes would rot quickly in the hardened hot ground.  He knew he must get the work done.

        When the husband came in for breakfast his wife noticed that his face seemed softer.  There seemed to be less of worry in facial lines.  He told her about the softer ground and that he had been able to harvest two rows of potatoes already that morning.  They sat together at the table for breakfast and again said the same prayer.  This time the husband thanked God for the softer ground.  Silently, his wife thanked God for the change in husband’s emotions.