Gather the Harvest and Spread it Around!

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:9-10

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Ephesians 4:28

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

- Henry David Thoreau

 

The best portion of a good man's life is his little nameless,
unencumbered acts of kindness and of love. - Wordsworth

 



Story of Ruth and Boaz

Story of Ruth And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor. "Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter."ï¾ So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz who was from the clan of Elimelech. Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The Lord be with you!". "The Lord bless you!" they called back. Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Who is that young woman"?ï¾ The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi". She asked, "Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters."She went into the field and has worked steadily form morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.' So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls." When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.ï¾ As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her. Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her." So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered, Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. Her mother- in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the person who took notice of you!" Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. "The name of the person I worked with today is Boaz," she said. Excerpts from the Book of Ruth, Chapter 2

You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~ John Wooden



Galatians 6:10

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers
  Ephesians 2:10
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do

Feel good stories and testimonies bear repeating.
  Taken from "This Day's Thought from the Ranch.
Dan Clark recalls that when he was a teenager, he and his father once stood in line to buy tickets for the circus. As they waited, they noticed the family immediately in front of them. The parents were holding hands, and they had eight children in tow, all behaved well and all probably under the age of twelve. Based on their clean but simple clothing, he suspected they didn't have a lot of money. The kids jabbered about the exciting things they expected to see, and he could tell that the circus was going to be a new adventure for them.

As the couple approached the counter, the attendant asked how many tickets they wanted. The man proudly responded, "Please let me buy eight children's tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus."

When the attendant quoted the price, the man's wife let go of his hand, and her head drooped. The man leaned a little closer and asked, "How much did you say?" The attendant again quoted the price. The man obviously didn't have enough money. He looked crushed.

Clark says his father watched all of this, put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a twenty-dollar bill, and dropped it on the ground. His father then reached down, picked up the bill, tapped the man on the shoulder, and said, "Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket."

The man knew exactly what was going on. He looked straight into Clark's father's eyes, took his hand, shook it, and with a tear streaming down his cheek, replied, "Thank you, thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family."

Clark and his father went back to their car and drove home. They didn't have enough money to go to the circus that night, but it didn't matter. They had encouraged a whole family. And it was something neither family would ever forget.
John C. Maxwell

Lord, give me an open heart to find You everywhere, to glimpse the heaven enfolded in a bud, and to experience eternity in the smallest act of love.

Mother Teresa