So for a couple years now, I have felt a bit sheepish that we've been here so many years and never made a single attempt at farming. Yes, we had a very small vegetable garden in the first couple years. But we've never tried planting the main food crops that make up a large part of our diet, like peanuts, beans, or maize. And even our little vegetable garden was abandoned, because (truth be told) it was not a stunning success, and I was discouraged! However, given the fact that we live in such a highly agricultural society, our lack of an attempt at farming bothered me, so at the end of the 2019 growing season I formed an intention to try our hand at farming in 2020.
Well, we all know what happened to 2020! A little hard to farm in Uganda whilst stuck in Canada...I digress!
Simple concept. Simple meaning. However I think I'd always looked at this concept through one perspective only; namely that you won't harvest a different kind of result that the seed you have sown. What hit me this year, though, is that the point being made is really understood by looking at the opposite statement: You don't reap what you don't sow. | The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. (2 Corinthians 9:6) |
will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.
What reasons are there, then, for the believer who does not sow the seeds of the gospel by helping others come to know the love and forgiveness and freedom that can only be found in Jesus?
I think the reasons are not unlike the reasons why I didn't try my hand at farming until now. I didn't feel my life depended on it, so it just wasn't my priority. Likewise, we as believers lack urgency and don't realize the great importance of taking the time to sow and cultivate the gospel among those around us.
Others fail to sow because they don't feel they know how. Well, guess what, anyone can drop a physical seed! The same is true with the gospel. You don't need to do it the way others do it. God has given to each person their own story, with their own experience of what Jesus has done in their life. Just like dropping a physical seed, it only takes "letting it go". Just like we are not responsible for which seeds germinate and which ones do not, we are not responsible or in control of who will receive the seeds of faith we share. Just like a farmer, you sow and weed, and then you pray that your crops are going to come up!
The other thing about this barrier is that we forget that we can ask for help. This peanut garden that we have is a learning experience for me. On my own, I have no idea how to cultivate peanuts - but my neighbours do. And it's my neighbours who have been teaching and helping me know what to do and when to do it.
And what should drive our spiritual curiosity? Love, of course! As we grow in love for those around us, we will long to understand the depths of the struggles of those that we do life with, so that we can pray and support them in the best way possible.
You don't reap what you don't sow. Just as you can be sure that you will not have any peanuts at the end of the season if you never plant any, you can be sure that you will not have the joy of welcoming fellow brothers and sisters into the Kingdom of God if you never take a risk by living out and openly sharing your faith.
Now who's ready to get a little dirty? I'm harvesting my peanuts tomorrow morning!