Chapter 31

A Season for Everything

The seasons teach us that there is a time and a purpose for everything. There is a time to prepare, a time to plant, a time to grow, and a time to harvest.

Joshua arrived at the farm as the land was preparing to rest for the winter in order to recharge itself for another season of planting and growing. Joshua knew about the purpose of seasons. He had experienced them in his own growth process. He had gone through the preparation stage, the planting stage, the growth stage, and was now experiencing the greatest feeling in the world associated with the final stage.

He walked around the farm as Dharma waited in the car. It was a cold, sunny day, and the farm, like the land, was quiet and still. The once mighty and scary corn maze had fallen victim to the cycle of life, and all that remained were lifeless cornstalks on the ground.

Joshua walked toward the farmhouse, hoping the farmer would be around. It had been five years since he had been here, and he knew that the farmer might be anywhere but here. But it was worth a shot to try to see him. He had changed his life, and in this season of gratitude he wanted to say thank you.

The farmhouse was empty except for a few pieces of furniture, some corn maze T-shirts, souvenirs, and a few pictures on the wall. Joshua walked over to one of the pictures and noticed it was the farmer he had met in the maze. As he looked at the picture, an elderly woman came out of the kitchen and dining area where Joshua had eaten lunch with his friends five years ago.

“That’s my Paul,” she said. Joshua felt embarrassed that he had not known the farmer’s name. He should have asked.

“Where is he?” Joshua inquired. “I’ve been thinking a lot about him and was hoping to speak to him.”

The woman smiled. “I’d love to speak to him, too. In fact, I often do. He just doesn’t speak back.”

“Is he sick?” Joshua asked, now more concerned about the farmer’s health than about telling him that he knew what the final stage was.

The woman paused, as tears welled up in her eyes. “My Paul is gone,” she said. “He passed away. He was such a wonderful man, and I miss him dearly. He was my best friend.”

“I’m so sorry,” Joshua said, as he placed his hand over his heart. He didn’t know what else to say, and he stood looking at the picture in awkward silence, remembering the farmer’s youthful radiance and sparkling blue eyes.

“I came back to see him,” Joshua said sadly. “I wanted to thank him for making a difference in my life. When I saw him five years ago I was as lost as they come. Now I know what I’m here on earth for.”

The woman’s tears turned into a smile. It wasn’t the first time she had heard such kind words about her husband. She turned to Joshua, grabbed his face with her frail, cold hands, and said, “Young man, my husband has been gone for 10 years.”

“What do you mean? Are you sure? I saw him in the maze five years ago. I saw him twice within a few weeks,” Joshua said, searching his brain for possible explanations. Perhaps in her old age the woman had lost her sense of time, he thought.

“I’m sure,” said the woman, sharing the date and year of his death.

Joshua shook his head. He knew things happened that defied explanation, but they were always stories about someone else. Not him.

More tears streamed from her eyes as she thought about the difference her husband had made in people’s lives.

“Yes, another harvest,” she said to herself. “The love continues to grow.” It wasn’t the first time she had experienced a person coming to the farm to thank her Paul. She had met hundreds of people who said they met her husband in the maze. And each time it made her cry. Not because she was sad, but because she was filled with joy.

“You know, you’re not the first person tell me this,” she said reassuringly to Joshua. “You’re not crazy, I promise. Hundreds of people have met my husband in the maze. His body may be gone, but he’s still here planting seeds. At first I thought these people were crazy, but there have been too many of them to think they were all hallucinating. Then I realized that maybe I’m the crazy one for not believing.

“When Paul was alive, he loved two things: planting seeds and talking about purpose. He would talk about purpose all the time. He was fascinated with it. He would write down ideas about the stages of purpose, which didn’t make much sense to me, but obviously there’s a bunch of people who understand what he was talking about. He often said that his purpose is to help others live theirs. He loved helping people who were lost. They all come back saying he made a difference in their life. He’s just doing now what he always loved to do. He’s planting a love that grows, and you are his harvest, young man,” the woman said, placing her hand on Joshua’s shoulder.

“My name is Joshua,” he said as he hugged the old woman. “I appreciate you taking the time to tell me this. I’m sorry for your loss, but I’m thankful your husband is not done planting seeds.” He then walked with her to the door and outside to the porch of the farmhouse. From there he could see the remnants of the maze where he had met the farmer. Was it a real? A vision? An illusion? It didn’t matter. The seed planted in his heart was real. The change in his life was real. The difference he was making was real. He wanted to tell the farmer what the final stage was. But he had a feeling the farmer already knew that he had discovered it. He said good-bye to the farmer’s wife and walked slowly to his car, taking in the fresh air and the sights of the farm one last time. The farm might be preparing for rest, but Joshua was ready for a harvest.