When I was young, my playground was all the fields and paddies in my countryside village. Helping my parents was one of the most fun plays.
In the busy farming season, I ran around the fields with a hoe or a pickax in my hand, or followed my parents as they sprayed pesticides. When the harvest season came, I helped them harvest the crops that they took good care of for a year by picking beans and red peppers, or digging up sweet potatoes. Rather than feeling tired, I was just happy to be able to stay with my mom. Whenever they left for work, I always followed them.
The time I spent with my parents in the fields and paddies still remains in my heart as a precious memory though I am a mom of two children now.
One sunny autumn day, I went to visit my parents with my children. I let my children help their grandparents with harvesting crops to give them a special memory because they were not familiar with farming. When I showed them how to pick peppers, they copied me pretty well. We were able to finish the work joyfully because they fortunately liked the work.
Then I saw a persimmon tree and a chestnut tree which were not there before. Persimmons and chestnuts hanging from the trees looked very delicious.
“Mom, when did you plant them?”
“You once asked me why we didn’t have your favorite persimmon tree and chestnut tree, didn’t you? So I planted them.”
I wasn’t serious when I said it, but my mom took it seriously.
“I will let you know when they are ripe. You can take them all,” said my mom with a smile.
A few days after I came back from my parents’ house, my phone rang. My mom’s voice was heard over the phone. She told me to come and take all the chestnuts because they were ripe. The next Sunday, I went back there with my children.
Around the chestnut tree, there was a pile of chestnut burs with their mouths wide open. My mom collected them there so that my children and I could have a chance to open them. Thanks to her, we had a fun time, collecting the chestnuts hidden inside the chestnut burs. It was very exciting to get the fruit by opening the chestnut burs by ourselves.
On the way back home with a bag full of chestnuts that my mom gave us, I thought that it is the same with the blessing of fruit, which Heavenly Mother gives us. Since Mother is the almighty God, She can fulfill all the gospel work, but She doesn’t do that. For Her children to feel the joy of bearing fruit, She left the spiritual work of harvesting for us.
I will joyfully participate in the spiritual harvest when we can harvest all the good fruit that Mother has prepared for us, because what pleases Mother the most is for us to receive great heavenly awards from God by bearing good fruit.