September and October are glorious months for celebrating Harvest
October is a wonderful month for celebrating Harvest. The fields and gardens are giving their final gifts, the hedgerows are full of colour, and our churches are often beautifully decorated with fruit, vegetables, flowers and other signs of God’s generosity. Harvest reminds us to pause, look around, and say thank you. But Harvest is about more than celebrating a successful crop. It also invites us to think about what we really need — and what it means to have enough.
There is a wonderfully down-to-earth prayer in Proverbs 30:7–9. The writer asks God for two things: “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.” He recognises that having too little can bring hardship, but having too much can be just as spiritually dangerous if it causes us to forget God. That feels surprisingly relevant today.
We live in a world where it is easy to think that happiness comes from having more: more possessions, more money, more choices, more success. Yet the prayer in Proverbs gently challenges us to ask a different question: What is enough?
Harvest gives us an opportunity to rediscover the joy of enough. Enough food for today. Enough warmth and shelter. Enough friendship and companionship. Enough time to stop and notice the beauty around us. Enough faith to trust God for tomorrow. And, importantly, Harvest reminds us that what we have is not simply ours to keep. The traditional Harvest celebrations of bringing food into church and then sharing it with those in need express something fundamental about Christian faith: God’s gifts are gifts to be shared.
Perhaps this October we could each take a moment to consider the blessings in our own lives. What are we grateful for? Where have we received more than enough? And is there something we could share with someone who has less? It might be food given to a local foodbank, a donation to a charity, an invitation to someone who is lonely, or simply a little more time given generously to another person. Small acts of generosity can make a very big difference.
So, as we celebrate Harvest this year, let us enjoy the colour, the music, the familiar hymns and the wonderful displays of God’s provision. Let us give thanks for farmers, growers and all those whose work brings food to our tables. And let us remember the simple wisdom of Proverbs: to be grateful for our daily bread, to guard against taking abundance for granted, and to share generously what we have been given.
“Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.”
May our Harvest celebrations be joyful, thankful and generous — and may we discover anew that there is great blessing in having, and sharing, enough.
With every blessing
Rev’d Andrew Hiscox