You don't reap until the season is over

Tonight I'd like to share a story shared by Sis Luthy at the temple yesterday, it is the story of Emmaline.  Emmaline was a pioneer in the early days of the church during the Kirtland period, her family joined the church in the early days in Kirtland and Emmaline married a young man who shared her love for the gospel. In fact after their marriage and with a young baby in tow they hitched up a young cow and an ornery steer to their wagon and rushed off to Missouri so they could arrive before Christ's second coming. They didn't see Christ at that time, but they did face many of the trials of the saints, and were eventually driven out of Missouri to a settlement around 12 miles away from Nauvoo. While working to build a home there a neighbor came by to inform them that a mob had come to the settlement to burn everything to the ground. With her husband working in the fields Emmaline had to take her four small children one by one and lead them away from the house to a place of safety, then pack what few belongings she had time for into a kitchen cupboard which she was attempting to drag out of the house as two members of the mob came up to her house. After much conjoling she convinced one of the men to help her drag it from the house at which time they scattered straw and burned her house to the ground. Her husband came home that night just in time to help her cook their dinner on the embers of their burning home.

The saints in Nauvoo hearing of their plight took as many of those as they could, stuffing them in basements and cellars through the winter of 1845-1846 as they all prepared to head west. Emmaline and her family were delayed in leaving with the saints seeing as she was pregnant and due any day. After the birth of their fifth child they headed west to a settlement midway across the trail. While resting there and preparing to finish the trek west the encampment was overcome by a cholera epidemic, Emmaline's two young daughters and her mother were overcome by the illness and died. Emmaline herself was struck by the illness and near death. At this time missing her young daughters she wondered if life were worth the fight, at this time a dose of quinine was sent to the encampment and Emmaline was chosen to receive the dose. She recovered and lived to raise her children and  young baby and see it healthy and happy. Her and her family eventually did finish the journey and made it to Utah. That young baby that she lived to raise is Sis. Luthy's ancestor, the faith of Emmaline lives on in the lives of her many descendants.

Yet this story doesn't end there. As Sis Luthy said there are some moments in our lives where certain songs should be the soundtrack. She shared with us that after finishing writing this history of Emmaline she was invited to sing (last minute) in the stake choir. Walking into choir practice she heard them singing a special arrangement of "We are Sowing" and heard these words:

   "Seeds by faithful souls remembered,

     Sown in tears and love and prayer;"

"Thou who knowest all our weakness,

Leave us not to sow alone!

Bid thine angels guard the furrows

Where the precious grain is sown,

Till the fields are crown'd with glory,

Filled with mellow, ripened ears,

Filled with fruit of life eternal

From the seed we sowed in tears."

That moment on the brink of death was not Emmaline's reaped reward for years of faith nor were the many years of goodness and blessings in Utah. Her blessings reaped from years of faith-filled sewing come in the many souls who have now risen up to remember her legacy of love and faith. 

Those were Sis Luthy's words and here are my words from my heart, there are many times in our lives when we feel we have reaped a bitter harvest, we wonder what was the point of all of our faith, sweat and tears if this is all we have to show for it. We will find ourselves wondering why we followed if following the spirit has brought us so much pain and fears. But as the spirit taught me yesterday, "you don't reap until the season is over, and the end of the Lord's season is different than ours". 

Seeds that fall amid the stillness

Of the lonely mountain glen;

Seeds cast out in crowded places,

Trodden under foot of men;

Seeds by idle hearts forgotten,

Flung at random on the air;

There will be moments of sadness and stillness, there will be moments where we feel we have been trodden under the foot of men, but that is not what we reap, that is simply another moment along the journey. We are not flung at random on the air, our Father in Heaven knows where we have fallen and He is preparing precious angels to guard and guide us, He sends the Holy Ghost to guard and guide us and our Savior Jesus Christ to provide the living water we need to survive. So if in  some moments you feel that all you have to reap is moments of bitterness and pain, remember that the Lord's season of harvest is different than ours. If it is at times still painful and lonely remember it is not yet the end, for in the end all tears will be wiped away, all hopes renewed, all pain made up and all peace will be found. We may have moments of sadness and confusion, doubt or fear, concern or frustration, but our season is not yet over and there are many gifts and blessings to be reaped as we near that great day. 

Lyrics

1.  We are sowing, daily sowing
   
   Countless seeds of good and ill,
   Scattered on the level lowland,
   Cast upon the windy hill;
   Seeds that sink in rich, brown furrows,
   Soft with heaven's gracious rain;
   Seeds that rest upon the surface
   Of the dry, unyielding plain;
2.  Seeds that fall amid the stillness
   
   Of the lonely mountain glen;
   Seeds cast out in crowded places,
   Trodden under foot of men;
   Seeds by idle hearts forgotten,
   Flung at random on the air;
   Seeds by faithful souls remembered,
   Sown in tears and love and prayer;
3.  Seeds that lie unchanged, unquickened,
   Lifeless on the teeming mold;
   Seeds that live and grow and flourish
   When the sower's hand is cold.
   By a whisper sow we blessings;
   By a breath we scatter strife.
   In our words and thoughts and actions
   Lie the seeds of death and life.
4. Thou who knowest all our weakness,
   Leave us not to sow alone!
   Bid thine angels guard the furrows
   Where the precious grain is sown,
   Till the fields are crown'd with glory,
   Filled with mellow, ripened ears,
   Filled with fruit of life eternal
   From the seed we sowed in tears.