Remembering A Writer's Harvest

by Lucinda Secrest McDowell @LucindaSMcDowel

In November we are inevitably surrounded by cornucopia, pumpkins and gourds, and fabulous autumn root vegetables. I love Harvest. I love the colors, the smells, the textures, and “sweatah weathah.”

I love focusing on praise and thanksgiving. This morning for some inexplicable reason I awakened singing that wonderful old hymn “Bringing in the Sheaves.”

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. ~ Knowles Shaw, 1874

As a writer/speaker, where have you been sowing this year? 

• Training at conferences
• Creating weekly blogs
• Launching a website 
• Building a platform
• Writing book proposals
• Research and journaling
• Preparing speaking presentations
• Networking with industry professionals

Are you exhausted, exhilarated, or perhaps even exasperated? Perhaps you are still “waiting for the harvest and the time of reaping,” and yet nothing seems to be happening. 

How does a writer get from sowing to “rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves” when there are no sheaves to rejoice over yet?

This is not the first Autumn where I have looked around and wondered when all the fruit of my year’s labor would appear. How can I choose to rejoice anyway?

Prolific writer/speaker Beth Moore answered that question for me on Instagram this past hot summer. She is evidently in the process of trying to grow a vineyard in Texas and one day she posted that the only fruit in her whole field was one measly grape! Not much for all her efforts and care as a gardener.

Yet Beth pointed her readers to the fact that Jesus doesn’t always measure our fruit from the sheer volume of the sheaves that are harvested. “And in those one-lone-grape seasons or those seasons of none at all, maybe He also says to us, ‘I love you. Way to simply stay alive through this. Hold on and hang in there. There’s a different season coming.’” 

I don’t know whether you are in the midst of reaping and rejoicing or waiting and withering; but I do know there is always a different season coming. Hold on and hang in there.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time

we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:10

Writer friends, thank you for sowing seeds of kindness and for doing good. For the Master. Perhaps you can even hear my twangy voice singing this last verse over you as a prophetic benediction:

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. Amen.

TWEETABLE

Remembering a Writer's Harvest, encouragement from author @LucindaSMcDowel on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Lucinda Secrest McDowell, M.T.S., is a storyteller and seasoned mentor who engages both heart and mind while “Helping You Choose a Life of Serenity & Strength.” A graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Furman University, McDowell is the author of 17 books and contributing author to 36+ books. Her award-winning books include Soul Strong, Life-Giving Choices, Dwelling Places, and The Courage to Write. Lucinda, a member of the Redbud Writers Guild and AWSA, received Mt. Hermon “Writer of the Year” award and guest blogs monthly for ‘The Write Conversation.’ 

Whether pouring into young mamas, leading a restorative day of prayer, or coaching writers and speakers through “Encouraging Words Consulting,” she is energized by investing in people of all ages. As a communications teacher, she co-directs “reNEW—spiritual retreat for writers & speakers” and has served on the faculty of Speak Up Conference, Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Florida Christian Writers Conference, Asheville Christian Writers Conference, and She Writes for Him. Known for her ability to convey deep truth in practical and winsome ways, McDowell shares words from “Sunnyside” cottage in New England and blogs weekly at WWW.LUCINDASECRESTMCDOWELL.COM