“Our behavior, attitudes, and initiatives toward others are an act of sowing. The acts of others toward us, at least in a general sense, are an act of reaping. If others are being critical, judgmental, or hostile to us, before we write them off as uncaring jerks, it may be wise to examine what we’ve been sowing in our own attitudes and relationships. If we aren’t seeing generosity being returned, maybe we haven’t been giving.”
-from my journal, January 10, 2001
Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others – ignoring God! – harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8, The Message).
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Sometimes when the Lord wants to tell me something significant, he opens my eyes.
Sometimes he closes them. Literally. And speaks to me through a dream.
A few years ago I was on an airplane, reading about how God reveals himself through dreams, and I decided to see if the Lord had anything to say to me in that manner. That night in the hotel room, I asked him to speak to me through my dreams, and I “instructed” my brain to remember.
Remember I did. Clearly. Vividly. Unforgettably.
In the dream, I was in the back of one of those big military convoy trucks, along with a couple of other people. I don’t remember who they were; they were at my side, helping. Huge sacks of grass seed stood between us and the tailgate. The truck was moving very slowly, and we were dumping grass seeds off the back as fast as we could.
In my dream, I literally saw the grass come up to full size before my eyes. It was long in some places, short in others. Certainly not your beautifully-manicured lawn. But it was lush, thick, and green. It was abundant.
The next morning, I spent some time with the Lord, asking him what that could mean. As I processed all this in my journal, here is what I sensed him saying:
I have a life and work of abundant fruitfulness for you. Your harvest may not appear as manicured as others, but you will see far more of a harvest if you follow My plan than you ever would if you follow your own. I have given you the capacity to be a harvester and to sow seeds of life, truth, and spiritual power. The opinion of others does not define who you are or what you are called to do. Regardless of your position, you are to be a sower of seed, and you need to sow abundantly. If you do, you will reap abundantly.
That sure makes sense scripturally. Here’s the way Paul put it: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. . . . And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed” (2 Corinthians 9:6, 8, NASU).
What if you were in the back of that truck, and the “seed” was actually God’s love? How much would you plant?
What if the seed was forgiveness? Or patience?
What if the seed was the good news about Jesus Christ?
What if it was money to feed and clothe some child somewhere who didn’t have either?
What if the seed was laughter and joy?
What if it was yourself, and your own development?
Regardless of the content of the sacks, the message is consistent. Plant sparingly, harvest sparingly. Plant abundantly, then look out!
“The kingdom of God is like this,” Jesus said. “A man scatters seed on the ground; night and day he sleeps and gets up, and the seed sprouts and grows–he doesn’t know how. The soil produces a crop by itself–first the blade, then the head, and then the ripe grain on the head. But as soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle, because harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29, HCS).
Buried in the soil, in places no one can see for a while, the seed grows. The same is true for the many ways you can invest in your own life, the lives of others, or the Kingdom. Quietly working, sometimes for long seasons, the transformation is happening.
Don’t assume that just because you can’t see visible evidence of results, no results are taking place. It’s normal for seeds to grow. It’s expected.
Why do we act so surprised, then, when we plant a few good things, and actually see results? I think it’s because we allow ourselves to be deceived into thinking that seeds grow for other people, but not for us.
Hogwash.
You will reap what you sow, in proportion to the amount you’ve sown. You don’t have to manufacture it. You just have to be a faithful participant in the process.
