The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.—Matthew 9:37 (NRSV)

Last year, I noticed a few local trees that had shed a goodly crop of nuts. I could identify what they weren’t—hazelnuts, chestnuts, black walnuts. Though curious, I left the mystery meats for the squirrels. 

This October, when I passed that way, the ground was littered with the light-brown balls. I brought several home. Determining that they were small Japanese walnuts, I returned and collected a passel. And then a peck more when neighbor girls joined me. (The squirrels hadn’t shown interest.) What a gift to enhance my winter baking! The foraging was quick compared to the nut cracking, the shells so hard we resorted to hammers on the sidewalk. The girls caught on quickly and came back to smash more. 

Tenaciously picking out the meats fell to me and presented an all-fall challenge. The edible sections, more tightly packed than English walnuts, didn’t readily release their hold. Evening after evening, as I watched the news, I poked at crevices and chipped off morsels that eventually equaled one cup, a pint. By winter, a quart? 

An hour ago, as I set aside the prolonged but oddly satisfying task, an old aphorism came to mind: “The gift becomes the work.” In spiritual terms, our salvation is an “indescribable” gift of God (2 Corinthians 9:15). And yet God asks that we work with that beneficent harvest to amplify its effect, through our faithfulness to Him and service to others. I can foresee the fruition: a bountiful kingdom supply.