Why I started The Faithful Harvester
“The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away” – Pablo Picasso
I am a Male in my early twenties, a little over 6 months into my first professional job. I graduated last Summer and was fortunate enough to have a job in accountancy, the field in which I studied, lined up for when I had finished. This involved moving to a new city, an exciting yet somewhat daunting prospect.
In my first year of Uni I gave my life to Jesus. Growing up I always thought of religion as stupid, whatever the faith/group – to me they were all one of the same. Science had the answers, not that I cared for science, or the deep questions that many look to religion and scripture to answer. See, growing up me and my mates were more concerned with football, and getting ‘on it’. Since my early teens, if it got you high and I could get my hands on it, you bet that I was taking it. Never an addict, but it’s safe to say that my relationship with substances was far from healthy – could a relationship with class A drugs ever be? The main issue that drove this was the chase of a bigger and better high. Whether it came from increasing the dose, or mixing a few together, what started off as recreational use descended into persistent low level abuse.
As we got slightly older, a few fake ID’s later and we were all down the pub. Alcohol replaced the drugs – for me at least. I calmed down, many of mates didn’t, but I did. By the time I got to university, fuelled by a heartbreak and British drinking culture, I was drinking more than twice the advised weekly intake before I’d even left the front door – this was a fairly normal feat by British nightlife standards I may add.
It was a traumatic time in my life in which I, for the first time, honestly considered the idea of something greater than us, a power, or God of some sorts. As cliche as it sounds, surely life was not found at the end of the bottle?
To keep this flowing, I will fast forward to the present. June 2026. Now you may have been confused as to the relevance of the opening quote. What does Picasso have to do with degeneracy and coming of age? Well, I first read this quote whilst reading a book that I hoped would provide some clarity regarding my future. It turns out working in Finance is not the most fulfilling of roles and I have been contemplating as to the will of the Lord for my life. One evening, whilst reading said book, hoping for some guidance, I turned the page to find the great painter’s quote, “The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away”. I was struck by it’s profundity, naturally contemplating what my gift may be?
For days I pondered, prayed, and pondered some more. The question quietly consuming every waking second of my subconscious. When the answer to that question arrived, it arrived with a similar profundity as when I initially read those words of Picasso’s. The answer? Matthew 9:37. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”. It turns out I don’t need to be a great painter, or a talented musician, a world famous chef, or champion boxer. The greatest gift I possess is the Gospel and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and I aim to give this gift away to as many who will listen!
In starting this blog page I hope to not only find greater fulfilment than that which my current job role has to offer, but I aim to honour and praise the Lord, learn more about Christianity and to grow in my faith, to plant seeds in the hearts of non-believers, and finally, to stoke the fire for Jesus within the hearts of those who do believe!
In the words of the Lord “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few…”. Now, let’s roll up our sleeves and get harvesting. Hallelujah!