Living in the light

After the darkness of winter, the lengthening days and the first signs of spring, bring fresh hope for a new farming year. Although we can still experience quite wintry weather in February and March, the presence of some early spring flowers and buds on the trees, indicate that new life is stirring. Very soon we can look forward to turning livestock out and recommencing work in the fields.

In County Armagh, a good selection of fruit and vegetable crops are grown. The most famous fruit to be associated with the county are, of course, apples. But rhubarb is the first new season crop to be harvested. Rhubarb grows particularly well in the heavier soils around the Birches, close to Lough Neagh, which has a moderating affect upon the weather, resulting in fewer spring frosts.

After a mild winter, by late January the first stalks can be harvested outdoors, and some growers will produce even earlier crops by moving the rhubarb crowns into a dark building, providing a faint light from an electric light bulb, or candle.

The effect of this is that the rhubarb stalks grow very rapidly to the light – a scientific phenomenon known as phototropism. As with any crop, light is a necessary requirement for new growth and production, although even rhubarb plants can’t remain under low light intensity indefinitely.

When talking of light, in the Bible light implies righteousness and goodness and we are advised to “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). This sharply contrasts with the term darkness, which the Bible signifies as evil and sin. A few verses earlier we read that “…God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5.) Jesus himself said “‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’” (John 8:12).

So as God is light, it is His plan that those who have trusted Him as their personal Saviour should shine forth His light. As we read His word, which is the Bible, we can become more like Christ every day and He will guide us through life. In the Old Testament, we read that “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path”. (Psalm 119:105).

God, who is the creator of physical light, is also the giver of spiritual light and by it we can see the truth. Light exposes that which is hidden in darkness, showing things as they really are. So, God’s light allows us to recognise that we have sin in our lives, for which we have to ask Christ for forgiveness, if we are ever going to be with Him in heaven.

The lengthening days at this time of year give us a promise of warmer, spring times ahead, when our countryside will burst into life again. Thank God that in the spiritual sense Jesus, who is the ‘light of the world” can become our personal Saviour, guide and friend, giving us the assurance of eternal life with Him some day in heaven. As we read in 1 John 1:7 “…if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son purifies, us from all sin.”

David is married to Pauline and they have four grown up children. Since retiring from the Grass Breeding Department at AFBI Loughgall, he grows Bramley apples which he supplies to local processors and packers. David is a member of Loughgall Presbyterian Church.

If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Rev Kenny Hanna, PCI’s Rural Chaplain at [email protected] or call him on 07938 488 372.