A favorite hobby of mine, that I share with many others, is working in a garden. There’s a wonderful feeling as you get out on a warm day and get your hands dirty planting, tending, and harvesting. To witness the miraculous growth of God’s creation and to know that you played a part in that is truly satisfying. Not to mention the blessing of health and tastiness that you get to enjoy and share with others.
But, as with any blessing, there is also a necessary sacrifice. Much to my dismay, I have found that gardens do not plant themselves. Neither do they weed, water, or any of the other things necessary for them to thrive. To enjoy all the blessings that a garden can produce requires a good deal of intentionality, determination, and sweat. No matter how well you start, without hard work, your garden simply won’t do well.
I have found this to also be the case within my own life; spiritually, relationally, and in almost every other area. If I want a strong relationship with God, then it is going to require intentionality and work on my part. I am going to sacrifice some things in order to make time to spend with God and develop my faith. If I want a healthy marriage or a solid relationship with my children as they grow older; these things will require daily work to tend, care for, and occasionally address the “weeds” that crop up. These principles apply to my finances, my health, and every other sphere of life. We can’t just assume the blessings of life will spring out of an untilled life. We have to prepare ourselves to receive the blessing God wants us to experience.
Now, can God bring blessing in spite of neglected efforts? Of course. God is gracious and generous causing the sun to shine on the godly and ungodly (Matt. 5:45). I have been thrilled this year to see tulips and blackberries spring up in my yard even though I didn’t plant them or even know they were there. God is good like that and loves to surprise us with His goodness. But it is foolishly presumptuous to assume God will always send good your way, especially when we are not putting forth the effort to encourage those blessings.
So my question to you is: what harvest do you want in your life? What do you want in your relationship with God? What do you want for your marriage and your children? We all have certain hopes and dreams for these areas of our life, but are we doing the hard work of preparing ourselves to receive these blessings? Are we making plans, breaking up the soil, planting those seeds, and picking the weeds? It’s going to take effort. There are going to be days where you don’t want to do what’s required, but you remember what you’re working towards. You remember the harvest.
What do you do in those moments when you’re not sure if the effort is worth it? For those days when you’re wondering if the seeds you’ve planted in your faith, your family, your finances, or your health will produce anything; remember that this is all an exercise in faith. Like gardening, you’re trusting that if you make this investment today in something you can’t quite see; one day in the future you will reap a harvest that would not otherwise have been possible.
So, I hope that you will plant those seeds now in this season of your life. That you will sacrifice those good things now, for the best things later. And I hope that God will bless you with a harvest that far surpasses your wildest expectations.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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