Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Choosing What You Will Sow

 

[Photo of a Scripture verse]


“Do not be deceived: God cannot be
mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Whoever sows to please their flesh,
from the flesh will reap destruction;
whoever sows to please the Spirit,
from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
—Galatians 6:7-8

I had a very interesting problem with the back lawn of the house that I owned until four months ago.

In February of 2001, when we looked at lots in the subdivision where we eventually lived for 16 years, the real estate agent directed us up to the top of a hill overlooking Lake Erie. At that time only one house had been built on what would become a five-house cul-de-sac. We had our choice of four lots.

The lot we chose had a rather spectacular view looking down the hill toward the Lake, which was about three miles north. It turned out to be the largest lot in the subdivision at a slightly bigger 0.65 acres compared to most of the other lots at 0.50 acres. Thus, it had the largest backyard.

Over the intervening 16 years, because we were downwind from the Gospel Hill Golf Course, an interesting phenomenon had occurred in our backyard. As most golfers know, golf courses use a variety of very special grass seeds. One of them produces very hearty and resilient grass.

Over the years, some of that seed had blown down the hill into our backyard. So, our yard became a combination of two markedly different kinds of grass. Throughout the yard there were patches of regular grass interspersed with irregular shaped patches of golf course grass. It made our yard look strange, to say the least.

To fix the problem would take removal of the existing sod and replacing it with a very hearty species of sod that would not allow the golf course grass to take root. But, our landscape company told us that it wouldn’t take too long before the golf course grass would again appear as patches on our back lawn. It’s all about the kind of seed that’s sown and the prevailing wind.

The kind of seed we sow in life is very important, too. Notice these words from the Apostle Paul found in Galatians 6:7-8:

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

As we begin another day, we need to pay attention to the kind of “seed” we are sowing in our lives. We should want to sow seeds of goodness, kindness, mercy, grace, and love. That’s what Jesus would do. As His followers, we should do the same.

 

Copyright © 2017 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.