08/25/2026
****Making the Connection Archives Series****
Every Tuesday, we are revisiting a past Making the Connection column originally published in the Cuthbert Southern Tribune. Since 2008, the weekly reflections have explored leadership, family community, and the lessons that connect us all.
This week's archived column is entitled "Seed time on Highway 82" by Dr. Kuanita E. Murphy, Published June 4, 2026
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There’s something about driving down Highway 82 this time of year that will preach a sermon to you if you’re paying attention. For generations in rural communities like ours, the land has always told the truth. Farmers understand something many people in modern life have forgotten: a harvest does not happen overnight.
Not long ago, as I was driving along Highway 82 looking across the farmland that stretches throughout our community, I began thinking about the seasons of seed time and harvest time. At certain times of the year, those fields look empty. Bare. Quiet. Almost forgotten.
You see tractors tilling the land. You see rows being prepared. You see irrigation systems watering dirt that, to the untrained eye, appears to be producing absolutely nothing. But every farmer knows better.
Just because you cannot see growth yet does not mean growth is not happening. The seed is still in the ground. That thought stayed with me because life works the very same way.
Many people only notice the harvest season in your life. They notice when the business finally succeeds. They notice when the degree is hanging on the wall. They notice when the doors finally begin opening. They notice when the vision starts producing fruit. They notice the recognition, the promotion, the accomplishments, or the influence. But what they often do not see are the years before the harvest.
They do not see the nights you stayed awake worried. They do not see the sacrifices. They do not see the times you worked two and three jobs trying to survive while still holding onto a dream. They do not see the rejection. They do not see the lonely seasons. They do not see the setbacks. They do not see the discipline it took to keep showing up when absolutely nothing around you suggested success was coming.
They only see the crop once it rises above the ground. And sometimes, because people only witness the harvest, they assume it happened overnight. But harvests do not happen overnight. Farmers know that. There is preparation. There is planting. There is watering. There is waiting. There are storms. There are dry seasons. And there are days when it looks like all the work was for nothing.
Yet somehow, beneath the surface, something is still developing. That is the part of life many people never talk about — the hidden work. The truth is, some of the greatest things God does in our lives happen underground before they ever become visible above ground.
And if we are honest, the hidden season can be painful. It can feel discouraging when you are doing the work and nobody notices. When you are building quietly. When you are investing in yourself quietly. When you are sacrificing quietly. When you are trying to create something meaningful while everybody else assumes nothing is happening.
But seed time matters. Without seed time, there can be no harvest. I think sometimes we have become a society obsessed with immediate results. Everybody wants the harvest, but few people want the process. Everybody wants the spotlight, but few people want the years spent working in the dark.
The old folks used to say, “Anything worth having is worth working for.” And they were right. What I have also learned is that people can sometimes envy your harvest while having no understanding of what the oil in your alabaster box truly cost you. They see the fruit. But they did not see the breaking. They see the success. But they did not see the sacrifice.
And sometimes communities experience seed time too. Too often, people look at rural communities and only focus on what’s missing while overlooking the seeds being planted every single day by educators, small business owners, farmers, healthcare workers, nonprofit leaders, churches, volunteers, and everyday citizens who continue showing up and believing in the future of their community.
Recently, during our “Pressure & Plates: Know Your Numbers” event held on May 18th at Unique Images through Randolph County Family Connection’s “Strong Heart. Strong Life. Keep the Beat.” Initiative, I saw another reminder of what seed time looks like in action. At first glance, some may only see a one-day event held inside a local barbershop.
But what many people do not see are the months of planning, relationship building, outreach, conversations, partnerships, and consistency required to plant trust in a rural community. The harvest does not always begin with something large. Sometimes it begins with one blood pressure check. One conversation. One healthy decision. One person deciding to pay attention to their health.
During the event, 78 community members registered and 59 individuals completed wellness screenings, including participants within the target age range of 25–54. Those numbers matter. But what matters even more is what they represent: seeds being planted.
Seeds of awareness. Seeds of prevention. Seeds of education. Seeds of accountability. Seeds of community trust.
Seeds that, in time, can help produce healthier families and stronger communities. Because real change — whether in a person or in a community — rarely happens overnight. It happens seed by seed. Row by row. Season by season.
And the truth is, farmers do not dig up seeds every day to check if they are growing. They trust the process. They keep watering. They keep tending the land. They understand that growth takes time. Maybe that is a lesson for all of us.
Some of you reading this are in seed time right now. You are planting. You are preparing. You are learning. You are rebuilding. You are trying again after disappointment. You are pouring into your children, your education, your business, your ministry, your health, or your purpose, and maybe right now it feels like nothing is changing.
But do not quit during seed time. The harvest does not arrive the same day the seed is planted. Galatians reminds us that “in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Due season. Not our season. Not social media’s season. Not somebody else’s timeline.
Due season. And when the harvest finally comes, remember this: It did not appear overnight. It came from years of unseen faithfulness.
So, the next time you drive down Highway 82 and see those fields stretching across Randolph County, remember that lesson. Somewhere beneath the soil, something is growing long before the community ever sees it. And maybe the same is true for you. --
