KEEP SOWING!
KEEP SOWING!
Once again, the harvest season is upon us. Yipeeee! I am excited because I am expectant of a bounty.
A few years ago I bought some fruit trees and had been tending them since then. I also started a mini garden of tropical plants and flowers along side my fruit trees. Quite honestly my flowers are not always in the best shape, but I do try. Smile! Gardening is not for the faint hearted at all. Sometime ago, one of my pawpaw trees brought forth a few fruits and I was so happy. Last week however, I was overjoyed when this time I saw a cluster of pawpaws on the same tree just waiting to mature and then be harvested. I was super excited. I was already tasting the sweetness of the pawpaws in my mind. In fact, pawpaw suddenly became my favorite fruit.
You see, this is what happens when we plant seeds. We care for them, add manure, water them diligently especially in the dry seasons. However we are not standing over the seeds watching their every movement neither are we pulling them out of the ground every day to see how deep their roots are growing. But we know we have sown seeds and we expect them to bring forth fruits. Fruits that are always so much more than the seeds.
Hear what Jesus said. “Jesus also said, ‘The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, the the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.'” Mark 4: 26-28 NLT There is a process and a period of time between seed time and harvest. My pawpaws were planted in 2021. I got my first harvest in January of 2024.
The seed referred to in the bible is the Word of God. God’s words (His promises) are seeds that we ought to plant in the soil of our hearts. We water and nourish them by meditating on them. By doing so the Word gradually becomes a part of us. How that happens we do not know but what ever promise we have received and keep meditating on becomes our reality regardless of what is happening around us in the physical. Praise and thanksgiving also helps us to nurture the seed and if for any reason we are in doubt we can strengthen ourselves by speaking in tongues. And one day we will surely reap.
My currently fruiting pawpaw plant was not the only one I planted. And truth be told, though we tried out best to water them as best as we could we never once dug them up to see how they were doing. I never stood watch over them either. The other pawpaw fruit trees are yet to bring forth. This is not because I have done anything special to the fruiting one. God himself has added the increase. Thank you very much, ABBA.
“I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.” 1 Corinthians 3: 6 NLT
When a seed has not been planted , there should not be the expectation of a harvest. Likewise if we have not taken a promise of God from His Word into our hearts through mediation, how can we expect a harvest?
So for example if I am expecting a harvest of getting married after years of being a matured single, I need to load myself up with Scriptures that talk about me being in my own home, me not lacking my mate, about it not being a good thing for me to ba alone and so on. The more I read and meditate on these Scriptures the more they become such a part of me that I cannot but come to a place of thanksgiving, praise and worship. I will no longer be moved or anxious even if no man is on the horizon. Because as far as I am concerned, it is a done deal. I am not running to my gate every morning to see if Mr Right is there. I am not out and about eyeing every tall dark and handsome guy that smiles at me. Certainly not!
But I am not perturbed because I know God has got this. He is adding the increase and it will soon be a tangible increase.
Whether it is a spouse, a job, a child or provision, load up on God’s Word that is relevant to your own situation. Your case cannot be isolated.
After all king Solomon said this: ” What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1: 9 NIV
And so as it is written in the bible, without any doubt, I am certain that I will still be reaping even when planting starts again, because my harvest will definitely be overflowing. Amen and amen. Amos 9:13 says: “You will have such a harvest that you won’t be able to bring in all of your wheat before plowing time. You will have grapes left over from season to season; your fruitful vineyards will cover the mountains.” Amos 9:13 CEV
Remember always that you can only reap what you have sown. What good deeds are you sowing? What words did you plant in your heart? What seeds did you plant in your vegetable garden?
As long as the earth remains, seed time and harvest will never cease.
DO NOT GIVE UP AND DO NOT DESPAIR.
KEEP SOWING!
OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS ©
P/s
You might wish to read our related article dated January 23rd, 2024, below.