My dad received a lab puppy from my stepmother for his 40th birthday thirty plus years ago, and we have been a lab family ever since. There’s been Judge, Jeb, Jackson, Scarlett, and as of this weekend… King Charles. My parents swore up and down that they were done having dogs in the house. They were adamant that once Scarlett, the only pup left, crossed the Rainbow Bridge, they would be done. But alas, a prompting by my stepsister, another canine enthusiast, led them to consider rescuing a new furry friend from the Lab Rescue LRCP Group.
Needless to say, it didn’t take a lot of arm twisting to get them on board. Thus, as of just yesterday, King Charles is now a part of the Muse family.
We don’t know a lot about this new addition except that he was a stray, found in early September in Hendersonville, North Carolina. From there, he was sent to northern Virginia, where he lived with a foster family until my parents adopted him. He was thin and full of heart worms, but otherwise a healthy and loving dog. The agency gave him his new name. Charles was not sufficient. This sweet pup needed regality. And thus, King Charles he became.
I wish animals could communicate with humans as I’d love to know his story. Where had he been? What had he been through? What other names had he been given? As a stray, you have to believe that his past was probably full of hard. Maybe he once had a family, but something happened that severed him from them, leading him to the streets. Maybe his mom was a stray, and he had never experienced what home feels like. I am certain there were many nights in which he felt alone, scared, and hopeless. Belonging to no one is a very hard existence.
Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there amongst the hard for King Charles. He has hit the mother load with his new place of residence. Not only does he now have a playmate in Scarlett, but he also has two of the most dog-loving people I’ve ever known as owners. To add to that, his new residence is a waterfront home on the Corrotoman River in Virginia. There is plenty of room to run and play, complete with an in-ground swimming pool and endless walking paths. King Charles has made it. His past may have been hard, but boy, has he found his harvest.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this Harvest of Hard lately. One of my favorite worship songs has a line in it that says, “For even in Your suffering, You saw to the other side. Knowing this was our Salvation. Jesus, for our sake You died.”
Our model in life, Christ, was able to see beyond the hard of what crucifixion would mean for him.
He understood the physical ramifications of the agony the experience would put on his body.
He grasped the spiritual cause and effect, knowing he would feel forsaken from The Father as the sin of the world was laid upon him.
Despite all of this, he knew that a harvest of salvation and reconciliation for his children was on the other side of the hard. So he said yes.
In the past few months, our family has faced some hard of our own. In fact, I can admit that the last five years have been extremely tough. There has been much unexpected loss and accompanying grief. My norm used to be to have a pity party and hope God would come to my aid. I reacted like a child who didn’t get her way. However in this new season, I have done my best to make the intentional, consistent choice to work my hard soil in partnership with the Holy Spirit as my guide, rather than admit defeat and look for easier land to hoe. God has asked me to stay and to sow, trusting that He has purposes for every hard place.
I have continued to be reminded of the verse in this song and the character of God that it represents. It’s easy, when faced with a challenge, to give up and choose the path of least resistance. But time and time again in scripture, we are encouraged to do the opposite.
Jesus is God. He could have chosen an easier way, but He saw the greater good and was obedient despite the extreme cost.
Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Whatever your hard is today, hear the voice of Your Father urging you not to give up. He vows in this Biblical promise that your harvest is coming.
A harvest of hope.
A harvest of peace.
A harvest of reconciliation and relationship.
On any given day, it may seem as if the hard is just getting harder. You may be desperate for relief and wonder if God is too busy to take care of your needs. The lie I can be tempted to believe is that I am not as important to Him as some of His other children.I can easily compare my situation to someone else’s and assume that God is working on their behalf, and that He will get to me if and when He finds the time. Nowhere in scripture does it say that He can’t handle all of our individual hardships.
Rather, we are reminded in Isaiah 55:8 that His ways are high above our ways. We cannot begin to understand how He is going to move. He is God, and we are not. However, we can trust that in due time, we will see that harvest come to fruition.
And in the meantime, our hard is not for nothing. In fact, it is God’s way of preparing us for the harvest. During the hard, He moves us into position to be able to receive the abundance of what is to come. He strengthens our faith and refines our character.
As we submit to the process and trust His hand, we will be ready to reap when the time comes.
Friends, let’s set our gaze beyond the present hard to our future harvest. Let’s trust that God is faithful and that He is using this time of sowing to prepare our fields for reaping.
Much like that stray dog who found himself alone and on the streets, let’s trust that Our Father, who gives us good things, has an amazing home and a regal name prepared for us if we will just trust in His harvest.
It’s coming. Keep the faith. Like King Charles, you will experience the harvest of your hard, too.
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