Pumpkin Seeds For Growing Pears

The other day, in the middle of that slice of hectic, phones ringing, babies sleeping, big boys grasping for attention, Mama feeling like nothing but Mama, a headache… you get the idea… I received a card in the mail from a dear friend. The timing absolutely could not have been better.

She reminded me of my value, and where the enemy had been trying to whisper {to a girl who’s just gotten home from a long tall adventure} Did it matter? Did it make a difference? this friend stood in the gap and spoke loud and clear to my soul, a big and resounding YES!

And receiving affirmation for being something other than Mama was exactly what my soul needed.

My friend’s card had a painting on it that brought me back to this wee house on the Isle of Skye!

As I pondered it the next morning, these words came to mind:

Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. {Galatians 6: 6-10}

I love the way the Message puts it:

Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.

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.

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

Although with regard to the natural world, none of us would expect to plant pumpkin seeds and reap pears, still we forget that we are also sowing with our words and our actions every day. We can choose to sow kindness and gentleness, generosity, patience and respectfulness, or we can grab seeds from a different bag: unkind words and disrespectful actions, harsh attitudes, selfishness and unbridled anger.

When you choose to sow kind words, you can expect to reap a good harvest in due time. The surprising thing was that I’d spent some time just that morning sending a few emails to encourage some folks I’d been praying for. I can’t say that these two things are directly connected, or that the harvest will always come so quickly — but we can cling to the principle that what we plant is what we’ll harvest. Remember:

“A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” {Proverbs 11:25}

{My three-year-old demonstrates all this for me so clearly — if I act frustrated and stomp my foot about it, I’ll eventually receive that same behaviour back, perhaps ten-fold. But sometimes it can also just take a little effort of sowing joy, setting a mood of sweetness and peacefulness, to receive back the same.}

So what have you been sowing lately? Are there perhaps areas where you’ve been frustrated — could it be because you are reaping a pumpkin after sowing one? What seeds have you been grabbing from your planting bag?

xCC