What You Sow is Your Life and Death is the Scythe

We all recognize the figure of Death — The Grim Reaper. But why is Death depicted with a scythe?

Although it looks sharp and scary, a scythe is not a weapon. A scythe is a farming tool used to harvest grain and grass. So why does the threatening and frightful figure of Death carry a scythe?

Death doesn’t come with a sword to kill, but with a scythe to harvest. The fruits of your life and the growth of your fields are harvested by Death. You’re not killed by Death, rather, that which you grew is collected by nature and returned to the forces from where you came. Death is not to be dreaded as one fears he who approaches with a sword, rather, Death is to be celebrated as one who gathers the harvest and reaps prosperity.

If your life is the source of prosperity and something to be harvested, why be anxious about death?

Is the farmer fearful of harvesting their crops?

Does the farmer dread reaping the fruits of the fields?

The farmer is eager to reap their fields as this is the source of their life and prosperity. Just as the farmer reaps the growth of the fields, Death reaps the growth of your life.

Death is not evil. Death does not come to do harm. Death comes to collect and harvest the life which you’ve grown. Just as the wheat has a purpose beyond its understanding, so is your life sown and reaped in cosmic story.

Death gathers that which you’ve grown. Death comes to reap what you’ve sown. And since the reaper comes for us all, prepare for him a harvest worthy of celebration.