Thoughts about sowing & reaping.
Each year as spring approaches, I get excited to start working in my garden. Along with planting flowers, I pull the unwanted weeds, which come up effortlessly. Last year, I had planted several marigold plants among some of the other flowers, because I love their bright orange and yellow color. This spring, I saw several little 1- inch starts of marigolds and I thought they would look very attractive in my front yard. I carefully transplanted several little starts in a row along the public sidewalk.
I watered and kept them free of weeds for several days. After about three weeks, I noticed as they got bigger that they didn’t look like marigolds. Some of my friends told me they were probably some other flowers. However, after they reached 12 inches, these plants looked nothing like any flowers I had seen before. I scouted around my yard and found the plant that looked just like the ones I had growing. It was a weed! This whole time, I had been carefully tending weeds!
Then the Holy Spirit started to show me my critical, irritable, judgmental, and unforgiving attitude I had towards some people. Just like the weeds, I had planted bad seeds in my spiritual garden. Now I was seeing the harvest and I didn’t like the fruit at all. I humbly asked our Abba Father to forgive and cleanse me and help me plant seeds of patience, kindness, and blessing towards these individuals. As I submit to His Spirit, I will be very careful to plant His seeds and then I will see a harvest of joy, peace, love and blessing overflow from me to others.
Matt. 7:16-18 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Joie Conrad
BYNA Elder
