Week Forty - Be a Gleaner

It is Saturday morning, and I've just returned from a four-day retreat in the Derbyshire Dales with a precious and hilarious group of missionary women. We had a great time chatting, eating, laughing, shopping, and gathering around the Word of God. 

As I took time this morning to reflect on those days and gather my thoughts, my mind went back to when I was a young missionary and the great times of fellowship I shared with my more mature colleagues. Unfortunately, all of them are gone now. They are either with the Lord or serving in other places, but I will never forget their significant influence and encouragement to me. I gleaned so much from them.

To be a gleaner means you purposefully pick things up along the way. A basic definition is a person who gathers small amounts of grain or other produce left behind by regular harvesters. And that's enough to get my thoughts going.

What am I picking up from those ahead of me? Am I purposefully picking up good things or thoughtlessly trampling over them? Do I have a place to store my little kernels, or do I fail to consider their value? Am I too proud to bend over and pick up the fruit? What am I leaving behind for others?

The book of Titus talks about the older teaching the younger holy behavior, proper speech, temperance, marriage, child-rearing, discretion, and obedience. As we talked at the retreat about these and other things concerning ministry, I pray the younger ones grabbed hold of the precious grains of promise. I hope they gleaned from the role models ahead of them who are trying to leave handfuls on purpose.

But I also got to thinking about the things I glean from the younger women. First, I love their zeal and enthusiasm. Second, I enjoy watching God working in their lives and ministries, and I listen intently as they share things they are learning and struggles they are facing. These things excite and challenge me, and I love rubbing shoulders with my sisters in service.

Here's another thing about gleaning. We can take the opportunity to learn and grow by purposefully picking up what God leaves for us, or we can stubbornly eat our own stale grain. We can humble ourselves to take instruction or foolishly cast it away. The choice is ours.

Friend, I'd much rather be out there in the harvest influencing lives than cooped up in the barn. I'd rather pick up good advice and sound instruction that will keep me from starving in the brutal winter of trials. How about you?

So, let's leave good stuff for others to pick up as we rub shoulders with the other gleaners. And let's be gleaners drawing strength from our fellow laborers as we allow the Lord to double our portion.