The Harvest

Hunting is continual. Each part has it's time and place. We are in the harvest now. We found the hope we needed for this moment and are devouring the parts we need today, and storing up the rest for use at a later time. We've found enough to get us through this season, until the next. We don't know when the next season will be exactly, but we know it will come and we will need to be prepared.

One way my hunter prepares is by first taking his camo out of the bag and hanging it outside in a pine tree. He says that's to get the scent of humans off of it and to let it take on the scent of the out doors. How often do we do that with our thoughts and emotions? This emotional camo is something we need. But how do we use it? Do we pull it straight on out of the bag smelling of fear and frustration? Or do we keep them safely guarded away where no one can see or hurt them, only to have them jaded and unable to relate to others when needed?

Camo has a purpose in hunting. It hides the hunter so he can get close enough to take his prey. Emotional camo is required when we don't yet understand for ourselves how to act or react in a new situation. We may need to put on a cloak of happiness, love, honesty, comfort...whatever it is, so that we can get close enough to hope to grab it up and take it when we need it, instead of fending it off with our fear and negativity.

It is a very deliberate action that doesn't just happen on it's own. We have to be aware that getting our emotions out, and helping them to air, is only part of it. We then have to be willing to put them on and wear them once they've been changed. If we simply keep hanging them out, nothings happens. If we take them out and then put them all back, we don't get what we need.

I prepared my emotional camo by letting my feelings out and sharing them here with others. Not because I wanted kudos, but because it helped me put into perspective what I was really looking for. Had I not took that camo out of the bag and let it take on the right emotions, I could have gone off in whole other direction that would have led me away from where I wanted to be. I was able to get the scent of fear and anger off, and take in a new sense of acceptance and support.

I would not have been able to do this alone, ever. Not because I didn't want to, but because I simply didn't yet know how to accept the help others have offered. I'm learning as I go and it's okay to do that. I've been able to cast off some of my fear of the unknown future and let in the present. With that came a whole lot of people who reached out to express their love and support. I would not have known or felt the comfort that came, had I not been able to express myself appropriately.

As I continue to search my feelings and share my thoughts, things come to me that I have always known. I am loved. I am valued. I am strong enough, good enough. I have courage. I can conquer my fears. I know each soul has purpose and is worth more than I can imagine to the One who created us. I am not perfect. There is much more to learn than I can ever possibly learn on my own. I need others to help me along the way.

I seem to forget these things over and over and have to be reminded over and over. My humanness gets in the way of perfection. Someone with much greater knowledge than I, knew it would be this way for everyone. Hope is not something we create. It just is. It's an eternal truth, just like love. Here for anyone who knows how to find it and use it.

My hunter doesn't create the animals he hunts. They exist outside of him and in spite of him. It is the same with hope. It was created by the Source of All and will continue to exist in spite of our inability to hang on to it. Just the way my hunter has to keep finding new ways to hunt and I have to keep finding new ways to hope. Life is ever changing. It will not stop for him or for me.

I am not sure exactly how any of this is going to play out for us. I am just beginning to understand hope has always lived here. The harvest is the shortest time of all in hunting. We need to enjoy it while it lasts, and begin to prepare the way for the next season to be successful. The work of hope is never ending if you want to have it when you need it.