Sow

Sow

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

“GAH!” My frustrated exclamation carried on the early morning breeze as I stood, hands on hips, glaring at the volunteer flax cheerfully choking out my carrot seedlings.

How many years ago did I spread that chicken manure, too eager in my gardening novice ways to properly compost it, killing any weed seeds before adding it to my soil? Sighing, I bent to the task of hand plucking the flax from among my carrots. I wish I’d known that I’d be stuck pulling hundreds of weeds every year because of that choice.

Will I forever have flax invading my vegetable beds? No. But my careless actions have resulted in a painful, years’ long process I could have easily avoided if I’d followed the recommendations for applying compost to my raised beds. I’ve been reaping what my careless actions sowed.

As I pulled weeds, I pondered the scriptural application of sowing and reaping. At its most basic, what we do (or don’t do) today impacts what happens tomorrow and tomorrow’s tomorrow. We can sow intentionally, doing the hard work up front, knowing the results (what we reap) will be worth it. Or we can sow carelessly, choosing momentary convenience, comfort, or pleasure without fully considering or caring what result we might reap later (like dumping compost with active weed seeds in your garden because you didn’t want to wait).

This is hard stuff, and we’ve all fallen short, having sowed seeds we desperately don’t want to reap harvests from. Thankfully, God intersects the principle of sowing and reaping with the concepts of grace, mercy, and forgiveness. He frequently mitigates our crop, protecting us from ourselves.

But, God’s protective interference does not change how we should be striving to live our lives. We spend our days sowing and reaping, choosing moment by moment the types and quantities of seeds we will sow. Let us choose wisely.

Lord, give us wisdom as we choose our words, our attitudes, our actions today. Remind us that what we sow today impacts tomorrow. Amen.

-Julie

One Good Step: What seeds do you need to stop sowing? What might you sow instead? Call a friend or loved one to be your accountability partner.