My Fallow Field Journey
by: Bruce Gordon
March 19, 2025
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
It is not an easy walk through a fallow field. It is even more challenging when you are eight and following your father with much longer strides.
The ploughed furrows, with lumps of earth, are hard on a size four rubber boot. As you navigate, trying to stay in the furrow, suddenly your foot slips and you lose your boot. Hard on socks. It is also very tiring as you scan ahead and see just more furrows and clumps of earth.
My father had a farm in the valley, bordered by Gordon Mountain on one side and Echo River on the other. He loved the land and as its steward, he knew that you cannot continue to take from it. Every few years, it needed to be left fallow after ploughing, to have nutrients restored. It was a time of rest.
The picture above is of a fallow field close to our family farm.
At times, as I stumbled along, Dad would stop and look at a plant that had sprung up. It had never been planted there, yet as the field rested, a “volunteer” suddenly emerged. He would smile and say, “That one is a surprise. I wonder where it came from.”
Over this past year, I have been blessed with connecting with a spiritual director. She is a gift to me and some years ahead of me on her journey of life. We have been processing rest and renewal, and she exclaimed quite suddenly in a recent call, that she felt I needed to think of a coming time, through the lens of rest and sabbatical.
It took me back. As a Type A, the word sabbatical scares me. I have visions of non-productivity, boredom, being left behind, etc.
She explained, oh no. Picture a fallow field. It is quiet on the surface, yet underneath, much is happening. Think of “volunteers” that suddenly spring up. These are surprises. My mind went immediately back to walking a field with my father and coming across a lone volunteer.
Let me put this in perspective for you. Over this past year, my schedule has been full. My capacity and sustainability are not what they used to be and my Spiritual Director has been watching this.
I am ending an assignment that has been intense and has lasted for 15 months. I need to take time for renewal and thought, thus the analogy of the fallow field. We are not designed to take and take and not replenish. The world of agriculture has so many pictures of life and the fallow field is one of them.
For those of you who may be in the same place where I am, let me give you five points I am processing as I go into this new liminal space in about 30 days from now. These times come out of a need. It could be the need for a new purpose; a holy discontent; physical health; the completion of a major assignment, or it could be simply saying, “I am ready for newness.” It also could be all of these.
I am changing the word sabbatical to “My Fallow Field Journey.” Perhaps it is the picture I was drawn to when the word was used for me. For myself, there are five expectations I am anticipating. Yours could be different. There is no age limit on fallow field journeys.
It will have a beginning and an ending.
It will be a time of “death to strategizing”. Meaning I will not be diligently planning what is next.
It will have at least three chapters, and I am in the process of defining them.
It will be a time to watch for “volunteers,” which are surprises that God wants to introduce, to suddenly spring up. God will not introduce volunteers when we have no margin.
It will have rest and renewal and yet much is happening below the surface, which I cannot see. Things are not what they appear. I will let that which I cannot see occur.
Haiku is a form of traditional Japanese poetry with a strong message. I am planning to capture this time in my own Haiku and here is my take on Isaiah 43:19.
I anticipate newness for you
It is in process
Watch for it.
Worship: Let it Happen
Prayer
Great Father & Shepherd, in all of the uncertainty we face at this moment, I pray for times of “fallow” for those who are reading this devotional. May they know the reality of the words from Isaiah 41: 9-10 (The Message) take time to truly reflect on them, and grasp the tangible reality in their lives at this moment in 2025.
“You are my servant, serving on my side.
I have picked you. I have not dropped you.
Do not panic. I am with you.
There is no need to fear for I am your God.
I will give you strength. I will help you.
I will hold you steady and keep a firm grip on you.”
Amen.
Further Study
Isaiah 41: 9-10, Isaiah 43:19
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An animal lover asked me the other day, “Why would God require the slaughter of sweet innocent animals just to wash away people’s sins in the Old Testament?” And then another person said to me, “I find the Cross problematic. Why would God sacrifice His Son Jesus for my sin? I would never do that to my child!”