This is a period of life in which God plows our whole being and sows the seed. Our heart and life is a great field that He bought; it is rugged and needs cultivation. When Christ, the Eternal Truth, becomes active in us He begins this terrifying plowing; He tears it all apart, exposes it to the light (Christ) and air (Spirit), digs up the roots of the self-life, harrows and pulverizes it. The plow by which He plows is the Word, and the plowshare is the Eternal Truth that penetrates.

As a little barefoot boy on the farm, I used to get my feet in the furrow when Dave was plowing, and there were those old bramble patches; what a tangle for the plow to go through! But it was part of the land, and one thing that pleased me, he was always whistling.

Have you ever had any briars or brambles in your patch that have torn His feet? I felt Him walk each furrow but I heard the Plowman sing for the very joy of possession. (Zeph. 3: 17)

Then He wanted seed to plant. Seed has to go to its death, and I was the seed. He stood in silence, nothing commanding. But after I had surrendered all to Him, He just broke it up and scattered it over all the field—my inner hopes, my privilege of living—all. He sows it and it sprouts just enough to show its identification.

We do not stay here long enough for its fruitage. We have all the ages yet to come for the growth and maturing of choices and decisions which we have made and for the harvesting of that which had its simple beginning here. One can­ not come back and make the choices, but we have to learn to make good choices here, because all of life is built on your power of choosing.