Today I lived a prayer. “I want to have my hands in the dirt with the people.” So today, on the 21st of November, 2021, I planted rice in the fields I open up my windows to everyday.
I was taken in as one of their own. Status or clothes didn’t matter. All that mattered is that we came together as one to feed our people. Yes, we laughed together at my inability to plant in a straight line. One two, one two seemed to be a bit difficult for some reason and yes, I was ok with being humbled and feeling embarrassed. At one point I thought I was gonna mess up the crop so I should step away but I kept going saying to myself “I’m learning”. And God asked me, what are you learning? To enjoy the learning, I don’t have to be perfect, just present and with the right intention of heart. To give praise and thanks for His peace and His presence, to give thanks to the Lord who gave me the hands and feet to plant alongside my brothers and sisters. I’ve been waking up asking God to show me how He wants me to use my time and He sure did. I got the text in the morning from my neighbor whom I’ve been saying I want to plant with the farmers, please let me know when they’re going to plant. They’re out there now, she said. Then today’s the day.
They were kind and loving, showing me how to split the seedlings in my fingers, showing me where to place my feet in the mud in between the rows so that there wasn’t a bunch of airpockets from my feet where I was supposed to plant the rice; they showed me where to plant, they threw me a new batch of seedlings each time I rant out so I wouldn’t have to walk clumsily through the mud to get to the basket. They reminded me to drink water. We took a break and they fed me Nasi Campur, rice and chicken and spices wrapped in banana leaves prepared by the wife of one of the farmers. We ate bananas and hot coffee better than any coffee I’ve ever had. Sitting on a coconut, mud caked on my feet and arms, I sat across my elder in blue, who looked at my cross necklace and pointed to her heart and then heaven and in her own language, whispered “me too”. My God. Every knee will bow at the name of Jesus. Facts.
As I sat there, God’s word “the first will be last and the last will be first” (Matthew 20:16) came to mind. I understood in that moment what it is to be a Queen in the Lord’s Kingdom. It is to serve the people. To sit with the people, to understand their greatest needs; to know that we are all the same, we all have the same need. The greatest of you will be your servant ~Matthew 23:11, His word says. I understood in that moment sitting there in silence as we ate, looking up into the heavens, we are there to remind one another of our position in God’s kingdom as His children — we are all great because we are made worthy in Christ, by faith.
And as we got back to work the sky got black and a rainstorm, mightier than I’ve ever witnessed came whipping through. It was as if God said “it is good” and sent the rain to establish His word and the rice firmly into the earth. We hid under the carport, and as I slipped away to cut up mango so that we could all eat of what I had to give this time, they asked, where did she go? They cared. Now, everyday I get to look at the work of OUR hands, the work of OUR heart. What can we not do if we come together as one mind and one Spirit?
As Kings and Queens we are not here to be served but to serve the people. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. And we left honoring one another, bowing to one another and speaking “Makasi”, words of thanksgiving and blessings. All I could do was cry in thanks to God for hearing my cry to want to serve. But first, I had to be prepared to receive that blessing.
So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. ~I Corinthians 3:7 NKJV
