Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. Psalms‬ ‭126‬:‭5‬

Growing up, my parents would always have a large garden to help feed our large family on a limited budget. I never enjoyed planting the garden for several reasons.

First of all, it was tedious. Spending hours in the hot sun putting seeds in the ground, making sure they were spaced according to my mother’s expectations and then covering them with the correct amount of earth wasn’t my idea of a great way to spend a spring day after a long, cold winter!

Secondly, we never really knew how well the garden would do. Summers in Wisconsin are anything but predicable. Sometimes they were hot and dry. Other times they were hot and wet. I didn’t always see the point!

Thirdly, I realized that planting seeds wasn’t the end of the story. Planting seeds also meant that in coming weeks there would be weeding to be done, cultivating to be accomplished and sometimes, irrigation to be implemented.

Lastly, I wasn’t looking forward to the process of canning and freezing these vegetables, which at our house was a family affair and usually took many hours away from some serious play time. Summers were short, time was valuable!

My problem was that. I wasn’t able to see the end result of all my seed planting. I wasn’t able to look ahead to my enjoyment of going out into the garden and picking a pod from the peas, those sweet morsels of enjoyment!

I couldn’t see my love for picking cherry tomatoes and snacking on them through the day.

I couldn’t see the joy of having fresh sweet corn and other vegetables, or the tastiness of BLT sandwiches made with tomatoes from our garden on mom’s homemade bread. I lost focus on the harvest.

Is that how it is with you? To often we focus on the current situation and the struggle ahead without realizing the joy of the harvest.

Marriage can be hard, yet those who have stuck it out in the hard times will tell you that those hard times ended up being the very thing that cemented the relationship.

Those who’ve gone through business or financial failure will tell you how much they appreciated the lessons learned and the resulting joy they live in now.

The drought of relationships gone bad can seem hopeless, yet those times of drought often are God’s call to draw closer to him, not people. To sense his love and faithfulness.

The analogy breaks down though. Sometimes the seeds we plant result in a harvest we never see. Kindnesses to strangers. Patience with those who let us down time and again. The pain of watching out kids make choices that go against the things we taught them.

But keep on planting seeds! Even though you may not see a harvest in your lifetime, the Father who brings the increase, will reward you in the life ahead because of your faithful seed planting in Jesus’ name.