Every spring, I would always make an annual trip to our local home and garden shop with my mom to buy our plants and seeds for that year's vegetable garden. We would buy things such as tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peppers, spinach and everything in between. I would take a Saturday out of my spring schedule and dedicate it completely to preparing the garden and planting the plants, which would be harvested come fall. The sense of accomplishment I always got at the end of harvest season was always worth the hours upon hours of weeding and watering and nurturing the plants to their best health. The taste of fresh salsa and homemade tomato juice was always worth the sweat and tears (thanks, onions!) of the planting and nurturing season.
However, this process of planting and nurturing seeds can be translated to so much more than physical seeds. The bible tells us in Galatians 6:7 that A man reaps what he sows. When I plant a tomato seed in the ground, it will always produce a tomato plant and I will harvest tomatoes. I cannot expect to plant a tomato seed but reap a pepper plant. This may sound ridiculous. Of course I will get tomatoes if I plant a tomato plant! While in other areas of our lives we don't tend to see this issue as quite so black and white. For example, let's say a girl in school cheats off on all her tests so she will get A's and get a scholarship to go to college for free. She is planting seeds of deceit and sin, but she thinks that she can get away with it and reap the benefits of a great, free education which leads to a high-paying job which ultimately equals an easy life. However, when she gets to college and it's not as easy to cheat as it used to be in high school, she will reap the rewards of the seeds she planted. She will get bad grades and probably lose her scholarship because she never actually learned how to learn but rather how to tell lies and cheat. This popular "you get out what you put in" type karma is usually portrayed in negative ways and it certainly can cause you to reap negative consequences if you sow negative seeds to begin with. However, there is also a wonderful promise in Galatians 6:7. If we reap what we sow and we are sowing positive things, such as the fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control), then God promises us that we will reap these wonderful things as well!! Unfortunately when all the world wants to do is sow seeds of hate, it is really hard to sow seeds of love and peace instead. However, just like the reward of tasty, fresh salsa keeps me going in the long, sweaty summer months of weeding, the reward of reaping love and peace should drive us to want to sow those positive seeds instead of negative ones.
This past week I had the awesome experience of seeing a seed mature and start to take root in my best friend's life. I have been praying for my best friend ever since I met her to come close to Jesus. It is my deepest wish and the way in which I can show her that I love the most. I had always tried to show Jesus' love through my words and actions hoping that Jesus would use me to make a mark in her mind and guess what... IT HAPPENED! A couple of nights ago, she told me that she wanted to start going to our Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) group with me. I was absolutely thrilled. It was evident to me that God had used the seed that I had planted in her life and he was beginning to water that seed and help it grow in His light. I cannot wait for the full reward of this seed I have planted and I hope that this story gives some encouragement to others to keep fighting the good fight and keep planting the good seeds because in God's time you will reap what you sow.
Sow wisely!!
