Harvest Time

Harvest Time:

Finding God in Every Season

Here we are again with the sunflowers.

Just a few weeks ago, these fields were glowing bright yellow—faces turned toward the sun, tall and radiant, almost smiling. But now the yellow is gone. The stalks are brown, drooping, and dry.

And yet, this too is part of the plan.

This is what faithfulness looks like. These sunflowers have done exactly what they were created to do. One small seed grew into a tall plant. It blossomed, produced hundreds of seeds, and now—comes the harvest.

The beauty of summer gives way to the season of fruit, and soon after, to the season of rest and reflection. What looks dead is actually waiting for what comes next.

Continue in What You Have Learned

This is the kind of wisdom Paul writes about in 2 Timothy 3, when he says:

“Continue in what you have learned.”

It’s not a flashy encouragement. Paul doesn’t tell Timothy to do something new or spectacular—he simply says, continue.

Because for Paul and Timothy, it wasn’t a sunflower summer. Paul was in prison. Timothy was discouraged, confused, and facing opposition. It was a winter season—cold, quiet, and hard.

Paul’s message was simple:

Continue.
Carry on.
Do what you know to be true.

Even when you don’t feel like it, keep trusting that God is at work. Even when nothing seems to be growing, keep believing that spring will come again.

Because faithfulness in winter is what prepares the harvest for spring.

Lessons from the Seasons

Have you ever been tempted to buy a watermelon in the middle of January?

Our kids used to ask for that all the time. One year, we gave in—bought the watermelon, cut it open, and it was mushy and flavorless. Lesson learned.

We live in a world that tells us we can have whatever we want, whenever we want—strawberries in winter, air conditioning in summer, streaming when we’re bored. But life with God doesn’t work that way.

There are seasons for everything:

• Seasons of growth and joy.

• Seasons of rest and stillness.

• Seasons where God feels close.

• Seasons where He seems silent.

If we expect every day to be a sunflower day, we’ll be disappointed. But when we learn to see God in the brown fields—the quiet, waiting seasons—we begin to experience a deeper peace.

Because God is not just the God of the summer bloom.
He is also the God of the winter soil.

The God Who Breathes Through Every Season

At the end of 2 Timothy 3, Paul writes:

“All Scripture is God-breathed.”

It’s such a beautiful image—God breathing words of life into us.

Paul reminds Timothy that Scripture carries us through every season:

• In joy, it teaches us to celebrate.

• In drifting, it corrects us.

• In brokenness, it heals us.

• In confusion, it equips us.

All Scripture—both the comforting and the challenging—plants seeds that grow deep roots, especially in winter. That’s how God shapes us into people who can stand strong through any season.

Keep Planting, Keep Trusting

Maybe right now you’re in a sunflower season—everything’s bright and full of life. Or maybe you’re standing in a brown field—quiet, uncertain, weary.

Either way, God is still with you. His Word is still speaking.

The same God who brought the sunflower from seed to bloom to harvest is working in you—even when you can’t see it.

So continue.
Continue in what you’ve learned.
Continue to trust, to plant, to believe.

Because spring will come again.
And when it does, you’ll see that even the quiet, weary days were not wasted. They were preparing the soil for what God was doing next.