Writers Can Find Peace When Entering into the Righteous Harvest

by Tammy Karasek @TickledPinkTam
The word harvest makes me think of gathering something. In my mind, I see the farmers gathering up the fruits of their labor that have ripened. During this time of year near where I used to live in Ohio, farmers have gathered their grain to store up for the winter to come. You may be asking what this has to do with writers. Stick with me and I’ll tell you what I’m thinking.
I read the following scripture and made me stop. I hadn’t put harvest and righteousness together before. 
“And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:18 ESV)
A harvest of righteousness. The expression made me pause. I wondered about the deeper meaning of it so I dug further. I looked up the various definitions of both harvest and righteous and came up with these two short synopsis of each. Harvest: to gain, win, acquire, or use; the result of an act.Righteous: acting in an upright, moral way, virtuous.
I went back and read the scripture again and I saw something different within it. If I changed the wording a little (not changing the meaning), it taught me that we have a responsibility of harvesting righteousness. Hear me out …
A harvest (or gain, acquiring) of righteousness (by acting in an upright, moral or virtuous way) is sown in peace by those whomake peace. 
This made me think about how we treat others. If you watch the nightly news, we aren’t doing so well with this of late. But I believe we need to look at our own reflection, too. Do we act righteously? Do we try to make peace? Or are we quick to critique others, or even attack them for their differences? Judgmental maybe? 
I then reflected on my writing. What are the words I use in stories, blog post, comments on social media doing to show or make an effort toward peace?
As we head into this holiday season, the hustle and bustle of this time of year can sometimes raise our stress levels. More realistically, it does raise them. We can become impatient, critical or snarky . . . anyone relate? Please tell me it’s not just me. 
If we want others to treat us well, we need to do the same. When we do our best to make peace, I believe more peace will be seen in our surroundings. In other words, if you want more peace, you can gather or harvest it by sowing peace to those you have an opportunity to be with. 
Writers have an excellent opportunity to write encouragement and words of peace anytime we put something down in print. The holidays should be no different. If anything, we should look for more ways to lift those around us with words of cheer, encouragement to their tired souls and bring them a bit of Jesus in everything we write. 
Might I suggest as we head into this wonderful time of year, we all strive to be harvesters of righteousness? May we all make (and keep) peace with those we encounter by acting in an upright, moral or virtuous way each day. Whether in person or within our written words, let us strive to bring peace to those we encounter.
And yes, even with that cranky aunt you might get stuck sitting beside at the Thanksgiving table this year!
Will you set out to be a harvester of righteousness with me?
TWEETABLEWriters Can Find Peace When Entering into the Righteous Harvest, insight from @TickledPinkTam on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)
Tammy Karasek uses humor and wit to bring joy and hope to every aspect in life. Her past, filled with bullying and criticism from family, drives her passion to encourage and inspire others and give them The Reason to smile. She’s gone from down and defeated to living a “Tickled Pink” life as she believes there’s always a giggle wanting to come out! 
She’s the Social Media Manager for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Founding President and current Vice-President of ACFW Upstate SC, Founding President of Word Weavers Upstate SC. She’s a writing team member for The Write Conversation Blog, Novel Academy, and MBT Monday Devotions and others. Her work was published in a Divine Moments Compilation Book—Cool-inary Moments. When not writing Women’s Fiction and Rom-Com, she’s The Launch Team Geek helping authors launch their books and a Virtual Assistant for authors.