THANKFUL THURSDAY...The harvest

We have been enjoying, daily, fresh vegetables from my husband's garden. Cherry tomatoes, green peppers, banana peppers, garlic, cucumbers, beets, squash and beans! Everything is coming in so fast, that we give alot of it away.

It is a treat for us to share with others the harvest of our labor. No thriving garden can be successful without  hours of planting, sowing, watering and tending. The crop would not be the same without such labor. We are just now reaping what we have sown over the last couple of months.

Many times we do not think about the sowing part, not when all we can think about is the reaping. We want to reap much but work little. It is true, even in the spiritual world, that we will reap what we sow. We must be careful of what we find ourselves investing in now, later it may come back to bite us. I read a story recently that this very thing happened...

A teen-ager set out to pull a prank on his neighbor who was a farmer. He and some of his buddies snuck into the farmers field one night and spread crab grass seeds all over. It didn't take long for the crabgrass to sprout up and every time the farmer attempted to get rid of it, the teen-ager had a good laugh.

A few years later, the teen had long forgotten his prank on the farmer and he fell in love with the neighbors daughter, the farmers daughter that is. They married and soon after, the farmer passed away, leaving the farm to his daughter and her husband. For the rest of his life, the young man had to deal with the crabgrass, the result of what he had sown all those years ago.

GALATIANS 6:7
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap."

In other words, when we are hard on others, others will be hard on us. When we do not give to others, nobody will be willing to give to us. Typically, it is the law of the harvest. If you plant a cucumber plant, you WILL NOT get tomatoes. You will reap exactly what you have sown. Just as tomato plants will render sweet, juicy tomatoes, so will kind words and actions towards others reap the same towards you.

When I look at our wonderful garden, I realize that without all of the previous hard work, we would have nothing but weeds and nothing good to show for our effort. I wonder, if we would consider the labor that we are investing in others, if we would come up with a plentiful harvest or just a bucket of crabgrass?

It is my prayer that we are working hard, praying diligently, and being a light of encouragement to those around us that need a seed of hope planted within them.

 Today, I am linking up with IRIS for THANKFUL THURSDAY and giving thanks to all of those who have invested in me, who have planted a seed of hope and watered it with love and kindness. I am so thankful for those who have nurtured me by being faithful to Gods Word and faithful in praying for me, for the ones who have encouraged me by standing by my side even when I fall down. So grateful for the ones who have picked me up, who believed in me and who never got weary of laboring so I could one day stand strong and do the same for someone else.

I am so grateful for the harvest. Now, may I go out and plant some seeds of my own and see what I can reap.

CLICK HERE for more TT posts!