Reflections: Generous Harvest

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God."
Leviticus 19 vs 9 &10

In a society with no 'safety net' the ability to pick up these leftover gleanings might have meant the difference between life and death for those without land of their own. Perhaps the best known example of this happening is in Ruth chapter 2.

Some landowners probably resented some of the crops they had sown and cared for going to others who hadn't worked for them. But if everything we have comes from God (as we looked at in our previous reflections) is it really ours to keep? Is there perhaps a parallel with how we might think of our taxes being used to help others?

We should remember that God wants every one of us to have life in all its fullness. In the story of Ruth, gleaning led to Ruth coming to Boaz's attention and an arrangement where she no longer had to survive on leftovers.

How might you- and your church- be generous with your harvest, whether of goods or money or time?