41 We were reminded this week of the rhythms of life by the roar of the combine harvester. It may have been more challenging this year to find that weather window and when it comes along action must be swift if the crop is to be saved. The old adage “Make hay when the sun shines” is spot on for the sun does not always shine! Indeed this year many hayfields were turned into “haylage” (a cross between hay and silage) baling the crop in plastic to thwart the rain. Exam students know all about it. The date seems distant then near then inexorably it comes to pass. The blank page of the answer book confronts. There is no escape. Now is the time to act. It’s the same in many walks of life – time seems to be the enemy. But time can be a friend in disguise. The discipline of the deadline means that things get done. The approaching Sunday most effectively concentrates the Preachers mind and bends his knees as he gets down to sermon preparation. Even the blog writer desperately scanning the news media for a “main” story of the week feels the pressure of the self-imposed deadline. Filling the blank page presents both the problem and the opportunity to delight or delete as the reader decides! Is there any help from the Scriptures? The writer of Ecclesiastes prefaces his poem in chapter 3 with the words; “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”. His poem then goes on to mention various human activities. These include our thoughts which go beyond this life leaving time and entering eternity. “He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us who cannot otherwise work it out. He made the trip from eternity into time in order that we might be brought into His family. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians Chapter 4 verses 4 and 5) The law shows us how far short we come of God’s standards. When we realise this we stop trying harder and look for a redeemer. We find one in Christ who paid the penalty for sin during his time on the cross and it is faith in His work that equips us for the rest of our time here on earth and then for eternity. We are promised a harvest season and at the end of the age there will be another one which will decide where you spend eternity. Jesus spoke about it and you can read what He said in St Matthew Chapter 13 verses 36-43. Now is the time to get ready. Tomorrow may be too late.