I recently taught a course in the adult education program of our church that is based on the book "The Seeds of Heaven" by Barbara Brown Taylor. Each week I begin the class with some sort of devotional that relates to the subject at hand. This week, we are studying about the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds. All week I have been humming the old hymn, "Bringing in the Sheaves." So, I decided to base my devotional on that hymn. We began by singing the old hymn unaccompanied, followed by this devotional.
Ready for Harvest
Bringing in the Sheaves
Knowles Shaw 1834 – 1878
Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;
Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
Refrain
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,
Fearing neither clouds nor winter's chilling breeze;
By and by the harvest, and the labor ended,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
Sing Refrain
Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,
Though the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;
When our weeping's over, He will bid us welcome,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
Sing Refrain
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.Psalm 126:5,6
Shaw used these words in the old hymn that we just sang. It's interesting to note that he died at the age of 44 years in a train wreck in McKinney. TX just outside
Dallas. He was on his way to hold meetings there when he died. He traveled all over the country in preaching ministries. It is said that he never became discouraged; had confidence in the gospel truth as the power of God; that he loved his work, and became wholly absorbed in it. He sowed seed with abandon.
Brahms also used these words in the text of the German Requiem. These are beautiful words. In the context of our lives, they say that no matter the heartaches and hardships we face in this life, if we sow our seed with abandon, we will arrive home at harvest time bearing sheaves of joy.
Prayer: God of Seedtime and Harvest, we thank you for these wonderful parables that Jesus left for us to study. We thank you for the psalmists who inspired Jesus in his teachings. We thank you for men like Brahms and Shaw who set these words to music so that they might become indelibly inscribed on our hearts. Amen
