TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

In our modern times, when strawberries and grapes are available at any grocery store in January, and asparagus can be purchased in August, when watermelon is a year-round food staple, it can be difficult for our children to appreciate the seasonal importance of the harvest at the time of Jesus.

Jesus lived closer to the earth than we do in third-millenial America. The harvest then was the essential indicator of the quality of your nutritional life and menus for the rest of the year, and indeed that you would be able to sustain your family at all. A good harvest was a time of festivals and celebration, as well as a time for thanksgiving for all that God had brought to fruition.

Parables of the harvest abound in the Gospels. The following stories in a children's Bible can make a good beginning for exploring this topic with your children: Matthew 12:33-35, the story of the good tree yielding good fruit; Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23, of the seeds that fall on different types of earth; Matthew 13: 24-30, of separating the wheat from the weeds; Matthew 13:31-32, of the tiny mustard seed; Mark 4:26-29, of the life-cycle from seed to harvest; and John 15:1-8, of the vine and the branches.

The Old Testament also yields a bounty of harvest stories, beginning with the creation of growing things in Genesis 1:29-31. Other pertinent chapters and verses to add to your adventure are: Genesis 8:22, God's Covenant with Noah, or the promise of the continuing cycle of harvest; Psalm 65:9-13, which praises God's abundance; Psalm 104:24-25, 27-30, in which all bounty comes from God; and Psalm 126, 4-6, when those who sow in tears reap with joy.

When our children were young, we planted a garden every spring. While we were never able to sustain ourselves with what we grew (there were times, in fact, when I think it would have been cheaper to buy the amount we harvested at the grocery store), the care and cultivation of our produce taught us patience. The long summer of watering and weeding taught us that delayed gratification is the sweetest fruit. Even the pests who sometimes stole our vegetables taught us to share. Showing our children how things grew -- berries on vines, apples on trees, carrots underground -- helped them appreciate the wonder of our God-given earth. They learned there is no such thing as a cupcake bush, but that nothing tastes better than a fresh-picked strawberry still warm from the sun.

If you are not a gardener, you can still bring the harvest closer to the lives of your children. Seek out local orchards or farms where you and your children can pick your own fruits and vegetables to cook in a harvest meal. Your local chamber of commerce often has listings of u-pick locations. If you live in a city, you may have to drive a bit, but your trip will be worth it. We are fortunate to live among apple orchards and pumpkin patches. We also used to frequent, at the end of summer, a raspberry orchard, where we always paid for an extra basket of berries when we picked a flat -- the deep red stains on our children's smiling faces attested that we'd sampled at least that many prior to purchase.

If you do regularly garden, you know your toils can bring an embarrassment of riches. Friends shake their heads at your recurring baskets of tomatoes. Neighbors close their blinds as you approach with an armload of zucchinis. Never fear: whether you zealously over-pick on your trip to the farm, or grow too much in your own backyard, you can freeze, can, dry or pickle your bounteous harvest so that you can enjoy it all year long.

If you grow tired of baking and freezing and drying and juicing, you can always do the most generous thing of all: donate your extra produce to your local food bank. Read the story in Luke 9:10-17 of the loaves and the fishes, of miraculous multiplication. Then live it: contact the local food bank or other charitable organizations to find out how your family can volunteer to help feed those who are less fortunate.

The harvest is a Christian metaphor of the blessings we reap when we give our lives to Christ. The light of faith ripens us as we age. If we are gardeners of love, the harvest of a life of following Jesus yields a generous bounty of compassion, kindness, and care for our neighbor: things that enrich us in the giving. "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few," (Matthew 10:37) says Jesus, calling us to labor in his harvest. Our response to that call makes all the difference.