Growing a crop of wheat seems, to most people I believe, to be a fairly simple task. Non-farmers probably think that all you do is throw some seed in the ground, wait for it to ripen, drive a huge air-conditioned combine across the field and presto!.....you have a truck full of grain to be sold for a handsome profit at the elevator.

Of course, just as farmers underestimate the work of other people, so too is the farmer’s work underestimated by others. To begin with, you need the land…and it doesn’t come cheap….and there is only so much of it that can be used.

Next, if the land is like what is around my place, it is good clay-loam soil but it must be tiled with underground drainage tile to effectively drain the excess moisture, otherwise the crops will drown or rot. Tiling is not cheap but it’s better than flooding out and losing the crop altogether. Also, to be effective with fertilizers and to save on the environment, you need to take soil samples to determine what deficiencies the soil might have and what will be needed in micro-nutriments plus the fertilizer to help the growing plant take in all the things it needs and produce the grain that will be used for so many different things.

In the case of the wheat that we grow, it is called “winter-wheat” because it is planted in the fall of the year, then “over-winters” in a dormant stage and then begins to grow again in the Spring and is ready for harvest in the middle to latter part of July.

There are different varieties of winter-wheat just as there are different varieties of seed for most crops. Some have stronger stalks, some have longer lengths of maturity (for larger yields or timing of harvest), some are shorter in height so there is less straw and some are resistant to different diseases.

Choosing the right variety can be confusing sometimes because “Murphy’s Law of Farming” says that : “Whatever variety of seed you choose, the growing conditions will change and you will probably have chosen the wrong one.” However, you do the best you can and most times, based on your experience and other things, you do okay.

In our farming area, wheat is usually sown in late September or early October in a field that probably had some kind of dry bean or soybean harvested from it. After the bean harvest, the farmer spreads his own concoction of fall fertilizer on the field and then plants the wheat seed with a grain drill. At this point, you have to decide how much wheat seed will be planted per acre and while everyone is different, I used to end up with 2 to 3 bushel.

Sometimes the wheat is mixed with the fertilizer and spread on the field and worked into the ground with a tractor and other equipment and there are a few places that drop the seed from an airplane or helicopter. It all depends on where you live and the farming practices used in your area. But no matter how it is done, the wheat begins to grow and continues until the killing frosts of fall cause it to become dormant for the winter months.

Throughout the winter, nature affects the wheat plant. A good covering of snow is best because it acts like a blanket and insulates it from the harshness of a bitterly cold winter. Sometimes there is a thaw and the snow melts and turns to water ponds on the frozen ground before freezing again and becoming ice-skating rinks for kids and dogs to play on. That’s good for the kids and dogs but not good for the wheat crop because the ice will smother the wheat and kill it.

All through the winter and early spring, there is freezing and thawing with the ground expanding and contracting and sometimes it gets to the point that it actually heaves the wheat plant out of the ground where it can no longer survive and it withers and dies. But usually, the majority of the wheat plants survive the winter and early spring and by the first part of April, you’re able to apply nitrogen to the wheat to help it grow as it gains vigor and vitality with the warming of the spring weather and the rains of April and May.

Then, by the first of June, the heads begin to appear as the wheat continues to mature and the kernels fill the heads. As the 4th of July comes and goes, the fields of wheat are starting to ripen and turn to the amber waves of grain that people see and even sings songs about. In 2 or 3 more weeks, the harvest will beging.

Now, to check the crop to see if it is ready to be harvested, the farmer (and sometimes his/her children as helpers) will walk through the field sampling the heads of grain. He/she takes a head of wheat, rolls it between his hands, gently, around and around so as to “thresh” the kernels of grain from the hulls that surround them. Then, the farmer blows into his/her hands to blow the hulls and chaff away so he can see the kernels of wheat and determine the moisture in the grain by biting on a kernel to see if it is hard and “snaps” when bitten. All of this is done to decide when the wheat is ripe enough to harvest.

When the farmer is convinced that the time is right, he gets the combine and starts the harvest and hopefully truckload after truckload of golden grain will be on its way to the elevator and then eventually into loaves of bread, muffins, sweet rolls and the donuts that you and I buy and consume. Although, some people consume more of the donuts than others !

Anyway, in comparing some of this to life, think of yourself as the seed of wheat, planted and then growing. Tended to and nourished, it begins to grow and then it seems to reach a point of dormancy where it doesn’t seem to do much more than “day-to-day”. Then, as with the nitrogen boost in the spring, the wheat begins to grow again, getting bigger and stronger and closer to maturity.

Next, think of God, like the farmer, walking through His crop of wheat and checking the heads for ripeness. As He tests the heads, by rolling them between His hands, the grain and chaff are threshed from the stalk. In His hands are plump, well-rounded kernels of wheat like Believers who have studied His Word and are totally committed to His work. Then there are other kernels that are not as well-rounded but are good kernels none the less. And, there are even immature kernels that for one reason or another, just haven’t attained the plumpness of some of the others.

And finally, there are the hulls, which have been “around” the kernels but don’t have the nutritional value and are blown away so easily as God looks for the good kernels of wheat. Now, make no mistake, even though there are different varieties and sizes of kernels from plump to immature, all of the kernels are needed if there is to be enough to make the bread and rolls, etc.

All of us who are God’s children are like the kernels of wheat. Each and everyone of us is needed and when we are all ground up and mixed together, as it is with flour, there are no differences…..we all become the “bread of life.”

My point is this. You will have a number of things affect your lives and beliefs as you grow and mature and one day you will be like a kernel of wheat waiting for God’s harvest. You may be a well-rounded and plump kernel or you may not, but…………you will be needed just the same. Just be sure to not be the “chaff” that is so easily blown away and discarded !