There is Always More ~ Gleaning Moments

Greetings Dear Reader,

For those of us who do not know what gleaning is, I will indulge my teaching brain briefly.  When I was a wee lad, my Grandfather would allow me to help him harvest his large garden in the evenings.   He was very Tom Sawyer’s fence about it and convinced me that following behind him gathering the vegetables he left behind was something for only the most skilled gardeners.

What he was really doing was leaving behind the tomatoes and cucumbers that were easy to pick.  One evening after we picked a basket full of vegetables from what had become a sparse field, my Grandfather explained that what we had been doing was picking up what was left behind; gleaning.  

Part of my practical approach to loving others is to gather up left behind opportunities to show love to others.  It is taking the approach that when someone is unkind or fails to be loving that I will take the opportunity to gather up that chance.  This has a secondary effect that I find quite beautiful.  People begin to expect you to be kind.  They count on your presence to cheer them up. 

I honestly think it is a large part of who we are supposed to be as Christ-followers.  People need the love we can demonstrate in those moments where someone else has failed to do so.  We can glean the moments of kindness and grace left on the ground.  There are always more of them.  There is always the need to show more love.  There is always the opportunity to help someone recover from an unloving encounter.

Gleaning takes an intentional eye.  I must be looking for the opportunity to show more gratitude, ease more pain, or give more kindness.  The lives of others are my business and congress.  It is what becomes our prime move in the journey home.  It is how we gather the love left lying on the ground and share it with those in need. 

There will always be the need and, therefore, there will always be the opportunity to love.  Gleaning those chances missed by others requires that I be vigilant, aware, and intentional.  Since this is necessary to follow Christ anyway, we should try to make it a natural part of each moment, Dear Reader.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

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We live in a world where others throw down handfuls of opportunities to love on purpose.