Bringing in the Early Harvest...{Finding Sanctuary, Part 26}

A reminder that the harvest can be full of beautiful variety...

It is no coincidence - I am learning - of this counting of 40 Days of Preparation leading towards Passover + 50 days of counting, leading to the day of Pentecost (which marks the early harvest). These have been days of identifying and  releasing an old habit(s) that resulted in heart turbulence and of developing and strengthening a new one(s) that would keep our hearts in peace, regardless of life pressures, emotional triggers and other life circumstances...



The origins of Pentecost connect with the harvest cycles of the Promised Land, of the early wheat harvest being brought in and thanksgiving being made for the harvest...the wheat came to maturity 50 days after the barley crop (at First Fruits).  But the very FIRST Pentecost, just as the FIRST Passover, is intimately related to the Israelites' release from bondage in Egypt...50 days is the length of time it took for Israel to travel from Egypt to Mount Sinai:

from a land where they served harsh taskmasters 

to the place where God lovingly claimed them as His own people; 

from a place of crisis to a place of covenant; 

from work to worship;

from slavery to sanctuary;

 

Their journey wasn't totally clear to them, the old ways of Egypt sometimes looked more attractive than the new life of freedom...it took effort to leave the old and figure out the new...the journey was filled with challenges and risks, new enemies and new problems...they needed new sources of sustenance - to satisfy their thirst and their hunger, they were pursuing freedom and the promise of a resting place...

a sanctuary...

 And like the Israelites, we now have walked our own 50 day journey: through new challenges and tests till we find that place of renewed covenant, the place of worship filled wonder,  a place of rest for our weary souls...leaving behind old bondages and walking into freedom....our hearts finding more and more room for His Presence as old habits unravel...

finding new sources, better sources, of satisfying soul thirst and spirit hunger - being filled afresh with His Holy Spirit...

and we experience our own personal Pentecost again and again...

Other posts in the Finding Sanctuary Series here: