Two harvest laws

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 2 Corinthians 9:1-15


TO CHEW ON: "But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." 2 Corinthians 9:6

Two laws of the harvest come to mind as I ponder today's reading.

1. The first is the law of sowing and reaping. It is true in many areas.

Nature. Why are there always so many dandelions in the spring? Because dandelions sow bountifully. Each hoary head contains up to 400 (though the average is 180) little parachutes. When all the dandelions growing everywhere from fields to stingy cracks in the sidewalk release their quota, it's no wonder we are awash in yellow every May.


Work. The result of our work will be commensurate with our effort. If I send off many pieces of writing, the chances that I'll publish one or two are far better than if I just send off one or two.

Family and Friendship. We invest great amounts of love and training into our children in the hopes that we'll someday reap a mature, productive adult. When we are generous with love, caring, and helpfulness we will have far more friends than if we are self-centered.

Spiritually. If we are silent about our faith, we will harvest few disciples—though Jesus did talk about harvesting what we didn't sow (John 4:34-38).

2. Which brings us to a second harvest law. I'll call it the law of seasons. 

Sowing and reaping don't occur on successive days. There's a whole season between when you sow and when you reap. For dandelions it's a matter of weeks. For apple trees it's years. For the Monterey and Pond pines, it's the right conditions because the cones need the heat of a fire to burst them open and seed more trees.

There's a lesson for us in this too. We need faith and patience—faith that something is actually happening in all the places we've scattered the seed, and patience to keep tending our bountifully sown fields of work, family, friendship, and Christian service.

Wherever you and I are today, let's continue with lavish sowing, knowing that the time of harvest will come.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the principles of nature that help me understand spiritual life. Help me to be more lavish in spreading seed in every department of my life. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.