Proverb 10:5

“He who gathers in summer is a wise son;
He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.”

The message seems a little obvious: it’s wise to collect tomatoes off the vine as they ripen. Otherwise, we miss out on the benefit of all that we put into their planting, preparation and growth. Toil and work with no gain: indeed, a shame.

But if we broaden the context here, like we did in verse four, we see that perhaps this isn’t merely about a gathering of produce. But the harvest of much more. 

What if it isn’t only apple and persimmon season, but patience is ripe for harvesting? I am hours away from the guaranteed chance to pluck patience from the vine as my family gathers for holiday festivities. If I’m awake to that truth, I will have an opportunity to harvest fruit. But if I slumber through it, it’s no less a shame than rotten tomatoes. 

When I sleep through my opportunity for prayer and medication it’s a shame. When I lose self-control and my tongue lashes out it’s a shame. When I entertain thoughts other than those that are good an pleasing to the soul, it’s a shame. These are all opportunities for me to gather fruit in the form of wisdom, patience, self-control, true, honest, just, pure and lovely thoughts. When I’m temped to drink, I have a shot at sobriety. When I feel depression lurking, there is peace and joy also at hand.

To sleep, according to the Hebrew definition, is to be stunned or stupefied; a deep sleep, cast into a dead. And that’s exactly what happens. I’m not awake to the harvest of spiritual fruit when I’ve been stunned by the pleasure of sin. I miss my window to plant when I’ve been stupefied by deception and enticed to partake of fruit that requires no toil. So I laze through the season, feed on pseudo fruit and rob myself of an actual harvest. I may, in essence, starve my plant to death in this manner.

Of course it’s disappointing to miss out on that return. The word shame, though, suggests something that reaches far deeper—down to the very roots of the soul: it means to pale and become dry. To delay. 

So rather than thinking in terms of a plant to be harvested, perhaps we are the plant. We need (Living) water and nutritious soil (Bread of Life to sustain us) and Light to photosynthesize our leaves, bring chlorophyll back to their surface and moisture to their roots. So when the season is upon us, we may reap a bountiful harvest of fruit that nourishes inner man