In this short story, entitled “Hopeless Harvest,” the reader follows the story of a farmer from northwest Texas as he struggles through an intense drought, tracking his diligent faithfulness to his work despite his hopeless circumstances. Inspired by stories from my great uncle and his wife—both of whom lived in Vega, Texas (the setting of the story) for a long time during the late twentieth century—I have endeavoured to write a story about a sphere of life I know nothing about as a bookish college student: agriculture. Thus, I welcome any corrections from those who know more than I about these matters than I!
Romans 12:12 calls us to “rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” In discussing this verse together, me and some of my fellow college students from Rez wondered how one might convey the three aspects of this verse in less overt ways. How could one “tell all the truth, but tell it slant,” as Emily Dickinson once wrote? As I continued to mull over this verse in the days to come, an idea began to form: I pictured a farmer patiently working the land, hoping for a harvest as he struggles in the midst of circumstances that seem desperate. As he goes about his daily labours, his work becomes a kind of faithful liturgy, a kind of embodied prayer. This was the inspiration for the story of “Hopeless Harvest.” I hope that I, like Bal Moore, will learn to labour diligently in hope of God’s eventual deliverance.
