I
don't know about you, but for the longest time now, I have been getting my
vegetables from the bins at the supermarket....and that's truly not a problem.
However, now with all the scary scenarios circling around with the spread of
the corona virus, I am beginning to wonder if that is such a good idea. Perhaps
it would be better to grow my own!
You
see, as a kid growing up on Logie Avenue in Charlotte, we had a BIG back yard.
One year it was our ball field and the next year it was at least a half-acre
garden; one that I spent many a long, sweaty afternoon, tilling, planting,
watering or weeding. It was a family affair, overseen by my father. Yes, my dad took great pride in that garden
and the many pounds and pounds of beans, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers and other
assorted vegetables that my Mom and my aunt made into delicious, summertime
meals. What we could not eat, my dad took to work or to near-by neighbors and
gave away to share in our agricultural bounty....yes, as I look back on those
days and the work of my small hands, I also take great pride in what my Dad
taught me as we tilled together in that dirt in our back yard.
One
thing that I learned at the age of 8 was quite simple ...you reap what you
plant! If I planted lima bean seeds, we
got lima beans...Corn seeds, stalks of corn, twice my size! Plant a tomato
plant and I got more tomatoes that I could count. Though this is not profound,
it is a great way to teach a young child....and Scripture concurs in Galatians
6:7, "Do not be deceived, God is not
mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."
And
this holds true in the life of us all...You harvest what you have planted!!!!
So if you plant love and kindness in your dealings with others, you reap the
blessings of what you have sown. Sow anger...Get anger! Sow patience...reap
patience! Sow cheating...get cheating! I
think you get where I'm going with this....if you sow the things of the Spirit,
then you will reap the things of the Spirit...love, joy, peace, kindness, grace
and more; however, sow seeds of the flesh like greed, malice, selfishness,
self- centeredness and anger and your will reap the same...it all comes back to
what I was taught as a child...be careful what you plant because you will at
some point harvest what you have sown.
When
I was a teenager, a good friend of mine that worked with me in Youth for Christ
was a disc jockey at Big WAYS radio by the name of Larry Black. Larry would
sign off of his on air program each day with a saying that has always stuck
with me and played a big part as a mantra in my own life to this day...it goes
something like this:
BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU SOW YOUR WILD OATS...YOU CAN'T
PRAY FOR CROP FAILURE... ' CAUSE THE GOOD BOOK SAYS IT DON'T WORK THAT WAY!!!!
And
for a young man in his teen years this was rock solid advice. I faced a lot of
temptations as a young man, but thanks to this mantra and to good solid role
models like my dad, Larry Black, Bob Ferster, Roy Tisdale and so many others
along the way, I have tried to sow the seeds that led me to look forward to
harvest time and not dread what lay ahead due to the seeds I had planted.
Did
I always get a bumper crop of good? Absolutely not!!! But what I got made me
appreciate everyone that was willing to sow seeds of love, patience, kindness
and great expectations into a young man who was trying to live out what I had
been taught at a very young age....
"Love the
Lord with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul...and your
neighbor as yourself!"
The
question for each of us is really quite simple...What kind of seeds have your sown and are you looking forward to
harvest time? If not, it is never too late to start a new season of
planting using the right seeds so that harvest time will be one of thanksgiving
and rejoicing....
Spring
is just around the corner, so here's to a great season of planting the RIGHT
seeds so that the Master of the harvest will be well pleased....
Planting
His seeds...Eager for the Harvest to come,
WPQ
Poem for the
day...
Eager to become
the man
That God wants
me to be;
Hoping for
approval from
All who would now
see...
The life that
I'm now living
In the things
I've come to know;
Are the choices
of my plantings
And the seeds
that I did sow.
Seeds of joy and
love and kindness
That I have
planted everyday;
Are the harvest
that I am reaping
Through those
who've come my way!
And my one great
prayer will always be
As I faithfully follow
my Father's Son....
Is that the
harvest that I am reaping
Is from my
plantings that were well done!
WPQ © March 2020
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