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I wasn't raised on a farm, but for many of my growing up years I
spent time in the summer at my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Alvin's farm in
the middle of North Dakota.
In those days farming was much
different than it is today. It was there that I learned about the
concept of fallow ground, rotating your crops and even letting a portion
of your land lie dormant for a season so it could regenerate itself.
It
was rural America in the 1960's and the US government called it the
"Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service." Among other
things this government agency worked for conservation of land and water
resources in rural areas. Some farmers were not happy about the idea
that the government was trying to tell them what they could plant, and
where; and they didn't always like the idea of letting a portion of
their land lie fallow and non-productive either.
But,
interestingly, the idea of fallow ground wasn't invented by the US
Department of Agriculture. Way back in Exodus Moses delivered a similar
instruction to the Hebrew people: "For six years you are to
sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let
the land lie unplowed and unused." Exodus 23:10-11
In other words, let the land lie fallow.
Farmers
have been doing it for centuries. And there's good reason for letting
farm land rest. It is to replenish and rejuvenate the depleted soil so
crops will grow back stronger and healthier. It serves to accumulate
moisture in dry regions and rid a field of plant diseases and certain
weeds and pests.
We see this idea of resting repeatedly in
Scripture. In Genesis Chapter 2 we find that God created the world and
all that was within it. Then, what did he do on the seventh day? He
rested.
The fourth commandment reads, "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." Exodus 20:8 (That is to say we are to rest on the seventh day.) Hmmm.
What does this have to do with us--now, in 2013? Could it be, friends, that our hearts need a time of fallow ground too?
Come this Monday night to hear all about it. I have a lot to say.
See you there,
Greg
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