Continuous Crop

Sometimes you find good advice in odd places.
Consider the wise counsel printed on a packet of radish seeds: "To enjoy a continuous crop, continue to sow additional seeds every two weeks during the entire growing season."
In other words, don’t get weary in well-doing! After you’ve sown some radish seeds, sow some more. Don’t give up. Keep sowing until the full growing season ends. That’s the best way to enjoy a continuous crop of radishes.
It’s also the best way to enjoy a full harvest in our lives! Consider Paul’s words to people who are growing weary of sowing:
So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest. So then, as often as we have the chance, we should do good to everyone, and especially to those who belong to our family in the faith (Galatians 6:9-10 TEV).  

Dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good (II Thessalonians 3:13 NLT).
We who are on the far side of seventy seem especially tempted to slacken in seed-sowing before our personal “growing season” ends. 
I wonder why? Maybe it’s because the sowing process demands things that the aging process tends to steal from us.
Sowing requires long endurance in ordinary tasks. Aging makes us want to take naps instead. Sowing requires focused trust in future harvest. Aging wants to enjoy harvest now.
Sowing requires a continuous supply of seeds; aging reduces our supply of resources. Sowing insists, “Keep at it!” Aging laments, “No more; I’m done!”
So what can we do?
It heartens me to remember that God is in charge of both sides of the sowing/reaping process. The Lord provides the harvest, yes. But the Lord also supplies the seeds:

 And God, who supplies seed for the sower…, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest (II Cor. 9:10 TEV).
The seeds we sow in old age may differ in size and scope from those sown in youth and mid-life. But those seeds are given to us by the Lord—to sow faithfully, here and now.
Small things, sown day after day, have huge harvest potential. Consider the growth possibilities in:   

  • our everyday skills (Acts 9:36-39)
  • our two cents (Luke 21:1-3)
  • our encouraging words (Ephesians 4:29)
  • our cheerful spirit (Proverbs 17:22)
  • our intercession (Colossians 4:12-13)
  • our shared supplies (John 6:9-11)
  • our presence (II Corinthians 7:5-6)
  • our endurance in trial (Hebrews 12:11)
  • our artistic abilities (I Samuel 16:23)
  • our uncomplaining attitude (Philippians 2:14-15)
Our growing season hasn’t ended yet. Let’s keep sowing for a continuous crop!

               ©MarionSpeicherBrown

                     

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