Sowing and Reaping

Little children, let us love,
not in word or speech,
but in truth and action.
1 John 3:18

I love spending time with my family. We laugh a lot and genuinely enjoy each other's company. We're always looking for fun things to do that don't cost anything so we visit many of the state parks and nature trails in our area. This morning we headed south where we spent the morning gleaning oranges in a Clermont, Florida grove. It was a perfect day with blue skies and a cool breeze blowing. We loaded bucket after bucket of sweet ripe oranges from the trees.





It was a great opportunity for us to serve as a family. All of the fruit we gathered will be sent to local food banks to serve the poor and homeless in our area. The Society of St Andrew works with farmers and land owners across the United States to gather produce that would go to waste. Last night's family devotion came from the book of Ruth, Deuteronomy 24, and Leviticus 19 where God provides for the poor, the stranger, the widow, and the orphan by commanding land owners to leave a portion of their field unharvested for those in need. It was a tangible way for our family to serve those in need and live out the Biblical mandate to provide for others. Sam decided to represent his JROTC unit and wore his uniform in the fields. There were several families there including ones with very small children who ran around excitedly picking up fruit shaken from the trees as it rained down to the ground. I even bumped into a few of my high school students in the field! If you ever get the opportunity to glean we would encourage you to do it. It made for great memories.