The best I remember, these were the first pictures of the cotton growing in front of my house. It had started to bloom in this picture.This picture was taken a short time later when the bolls had begun to form.
The next picture was taken a few days after it was sprayed. Since the days of mechanical pickers, cotton has been defoliated to get the leaves off so as not to end up in the bales of cotton.
I thought that now days, they also mixed a chemical with the defoliant that caused the bolls to open so the cotton could all be picked at one time. My friend Sherry and I were discussing this the other day. Her husband is also a cotton farmer. She said it was put on in two different applications. I don't know if the second application has been done in this picture, but the cotton has opened a lot in about a week.
This picture was taken the same day as the last one. You can see there are still some bolls to open. I think Ms Sherry knows a heap about farming operations. I'm just a city dweller these days and often assume I know more than I do. It won't be long until this cotton will be history. They will pick it(maybe they'll do it on a Saturday so I can get some pictures) put it into modules and the retriever truck will come and haul it away.
There is a passage in the Bible talking about going out and converting people, and it mentions that the harvest is white. Do you think it referred to cotton as we know it? We do know there is Egyptian cotton. I have a set of sheets that are Egyptian. Do you think they raised it in Jesus' day?
I know that reaching out to people is very hard for most of us. Reaching out to grab those cotton bolls is hard too, which you know if you've ever picked any cotton. Maybe there's a comparison there, or maybe I'm reaching a bit.
We all need to reach out. If not to help someone become a Christian, then maybe just to be a friend or to give someone a helping hand.
Have you reached out to anyone lately? Share it with me.
Hope you are having a great Monday. Mine has been busy. Love one another.
4 comments:
I love seeing the cotton fields... but i did not know they chemically made the leaves drop and the bolls open... makes sense I suppose to ensure increased production in the least amount of time... what always gets me is the seeds! you would never think that a cotton ball would be filled with seeds :)
Just living your life dramatically different day after day, kind deed, response, or thought will do more than waving a bible or tract in someone's face and "preaching" to them. I think Jesus believed more in conviction that He did in "hell fire preaching." Example after example of his time on earth show his love for people and love for conviction.
I hope they do pick it Saturday and you are able to get more pictures. I enjoy seeing and hearing about your cotton patch and days of old. Isn't it great how life has progressed,hard things made simple, yet is it really?
I'm convinced I don't really reach out as much as I should, great thought provoking post.
My Dad's family lived in Alabama. I remember as a child traveling from New Orleans going though some of those cotton fields. I can remember the smell of those cottons fields...seeing those pictures almost made me feel like a kid again, going to my grandmothers house!
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