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:

Making Lent Linger - contemplating the next preparation...

Our lenten season was full of pressing in closer to the Lord, and what He desired for us to receive...

I was determined to speak only kind words to sweet tweener, even in the midst of any "tweener storms", and I think she was really trying to give up "arguing" or "talking back" (tho' she believes she is simply sharing her heart when it happens - smiling) - she didn't tell me so, but I heard and saw her check herself on more than one occasion, and she alluded to something "she was giving up" for lent...

one of those things a mother ponders in her heart!

I didn't want to pry; I wanted her to enjoy her personal interaction with the Lord - so I still don't know...but there weren't any tweener storms, just little spurts of being irritated at what the other said or done - no doubt bouts of carnality in each of our hearts;

the very reason we each desperately need the Lord  -

we counted the days with a stalk of wheat around the Lenten calendar that we ordered and Caleb Voskamp made -


...but I'm not quite ready to let go of this marking of time;

I'm not quite ready to even examine if the Lord accomplished a work in my heart;

I just want to still be in this contemplative place...

And so we are still counting...

We started with the day that First Fruits was celebrated - we know that day by the name of "Easter" -

Yes, Easter is the celebration of the Lord's Resurrection, but it is also First Fruits - a separate feast from Passover yet connected intimately to it, appointed by the LORD, and celebrated faithfully by observant Jews - and I didn't even know about it for so many years...

Another time of joy that points to Jesus as our Messiah...and the beginning of another count - one of 50 days.  Perhaps an invitation to practice Resurrection into new life?  Not just to celebrate His, but to begin the journey of making it our own; that every day of our life in Him is a little resurrection in and of itself? 

We are into day 4 of the count...would you like to join us?  And contemplate along with us?

This is what we are doing:

1) We have made a "count down" calendar...

Click here to download the plain "Word" version...

Click here to download a jpg image of the calendar...

2) Each day there is a reading from the Scripture

3) When we have finished the reading, we mark the calendar and place another stalk of wheat in a vase...we began with the stalk of wheat that traveled around the Lenten Calendar with us...

Our vase today...

The first readings are from Psalm 119 - one letter of the alphabet each day -

There's plenty of time to...

         Join us!?

Sharing with Walk with Him Wednesdays                                 And Imperfect Prose here