Spring is nearly here. So is my birthday. It happens every year about the same time. I was born and grew up in an agricultural family enterprise. Dakota. We farmed. There was seedtime and harvest. We watched others farm. I learned life lessons from these people.
There were big farmers with so much land that they forgot to sow full quarters of land (160 acres). Some years they planted full quarters with crops they later forgot to harvest.
It was a source of amusement and instruction. How could they be so rich or so stupid as to do such a thing? Sometimes “stupid” was planting crops that made no sense. Like Flax, or Sunflowers. “Stupid” made sense later at harvest.
There were some poor farmers who didn’t use good seed. They saved so much money on poor seed they went broke. They didn’t get good crops. When they saved money on seed cleaning they planted polluted seed and got a polluted crop that included a lot of weeds.
Out of these early experiences when I hear the truth “what you sow you will reap” it is very real to me.
I turn 60 today March 15th. I have lived many good and some bad years. These years have been the result of sowing and reaping. Not just money. They are years of discovering that what I invested my time energy and attention into I received back. That goes both ways. Some things I invested myself into I wish I didn’t or hadn’t reaped the harvest I did. I hoped for a crop failure. There are others I’m waiting for the fullness of the good crop to harvest from good seed I have planted.
I have many things I have invested myself into which are producing good crops in my life I am happy to harvest. My Wife Peggy. My children. My grandchildren. My work. My writing. Most important, my relationship with Jesus.
On a spiritual plane, my investment in the things of God has produced the richest rewards. The peace and joy I experience is the crop I harvested from my quest. That’s why they are called the FRUIT of the Spirit. They are a natural harvest of sowing our trust in prayer and worship. Knowing God means I have confidence in what He will do.
I recognize that I am still sowing. I also know that some sowing can be unto destruction (to the flesh). So if I visualize the harvest I desire in the future I must be more careful of how I sow in every area of my life. If I sow criticism I reap criticism. If I sow rejection I reap rejection. If I sow anger I reap anger. Sow fear I reap fear. Sow control I’ll be controlled. Whatever I am experiencing from others is in part a result of what I have sown.
Every desirable and undesirable thing in my life today is the fruit from what I have sown. This is not karma. Hindus stole this principle from God. This is a Bible truth that has 88 separate references (I counted). Several of them start out with Jesus saying, “the kingdom of God is like a sower……).
The Kingdom of God is best understood in seedtime and harvest, sowing and reaping. Many pastors use this principle to extract money from their flock. That’s too bad. The truth of this principle is so important that we miss a great deal if we miss its pervasive application to our complete life.
So, on this new year of my life I resolve to sow less to the flesh and more to the harvest I look forward to in the kingdom of God on this side of the veil. I will sow more love, more friendship, more acceptance, more understanding, more compassion and more of the nature of the Spirit of Jesus who lives in me. As I grow in God my fields are becoming more and more white unto harvest. It’s time. I look forward to a good harvest as I enter the third quarter of my life. I will finish well.
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