Daily Lesson for September 23, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 3 verse 17:

17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to wgather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

John the Baptist compared what the coming of Christ does in us to the process of something called winnowing, which was the process of removing the dry, scaly protective casings of grain seeds.

In that time, after grains were harvested they were brought onto the threshing floor and a draught animal or sometimes children were used to tramp across the grain and thus dislodge it from its outer, protective husk. Afterward, the grain would be separated or "winnowed" from its husk by taking a pitchfork and throwing it up into the wind wherein the husks would be blown away from the heavier grain seed.

There is a natural, shell-like casing we all have around our souls which is designed to protect us from harm. This is what keeps us from being permanently damaged by rejection or abuse when young. It is what keeps children so resilient, even in the face of the cruelty of other children, the loss of a first love, and we constant parents' foibles. The outer husk protects their fragile souls. They are in a very real sense hidden inside a shell.

But the shell has a limitation. Hidden in the protective husk, the soul is safe, but it is also concealed. It cannot be fully known, nor can it be fully loved. Nor can it fully love. It is still in its shell. Many people - men and women - live their lives in the shell, hard and hardened to the world and unwilling to open themselves to truly love and be loved. Have you ever been around a crusty old person?

If it is to reach full maturation, the soul must at some point allow itself to be winnowed. In other words, it must open itself to the vulnerability required for knowing and loving others and being known and loved by them.

The chaff is blown away. What is left is the pure and unprotected soul - naked and vulnerable yes, but also pure and beautiful to behold.