Dear Readers,

I am sitting here and in all honesty, I’m not sure what to share with you. It has been so busy I guess my thoughts have not had time to gather themselves.

We are in full swing of harvest now. It means a few changes to our routine. One is that I am on my own a lot more. So for instance, take this morning. It’s Saturday, beautiful and sunny and the birds are chirping away while I sit here in the office, window open, cup of tea at hand and the last of the apple crumble consumed for breakfast while I write this letter. On the plus side, if that’s what you want to call it, I don’t have anyone here distracting me from the long list of jobs I need to get done. In saying that though, I would much rather have my husband here distracting me than not here. So now during this season, which will annually occur in my life, our lives, we will formulate a special routine to make the most of it.

One thing I didn’t mention in my description is that I have Christmas carols playing in the lounge room. Yes, I have Christmas carols on. To me they don’t just signify the approach of a festive season. I feel that they are such a pure form of worship and so wholesome! If you take note of the words (excluding all the Santa songs) they all proclaim His glory. Shouldn’t our everyday worship consist more of that? A wholesome, pure worship?

At the risk of sounding like my dad (Love you! 🙂 ), I think that a lot of todays’ worship music are too ‘me’ focused rather that ‘Him’ focused. However, I don’t completely condone the ‘me’ songs because sometimes they are the only songs that can express my heart when I’m going through something. Like everything there is a time and a place for them, but I believe a majority of the songs should be lifting up our Father for what He has already done for us and who He is, not requesting things of Him or making it sound all about us.

Let’s move on to the second thing about harvest though. Having never been here during this time of year before, or ever been exposed to crop farming, I am learning a new area of farming. Everything is spoken of in tonnes and the men know when they are a ton or ½ a ton off a full load when they are off-loading into the chaser bin or truck. And though it’s not a game, they are working as a team and are relying on each other to be alert and ready during every moment of the process. It’s amazing to see now the full cycle of the crop. From ploughing the ground over in January to sowing in May, spraying and spreading in between and now gathering the years yield. I am always learning out here, and loving it!

Well, I best get to my other jobs for the day. I have selected a couple of Christmas carols that I am enjoying at the moment so I hope you enjoy them too.

Many blessings,

Jane Bishop