“A man reaps what he sows.” – Galatians 6:7
“Plant a radish / Get a radish / Never any doubt / That’s why I love vegetables / You know what you’re about.” I can remember vividly our son Cecil performing that in a song-and-dance duet routine with one of his classmates in a high school production of the musical “The Fantasticks.” That was many, many years ago, so I have long forgotten much of the play and his performance in it, except that song has stuck in my head ever since, not only because I thought our son did a “fantastic” job in performing the number, but also because the lyrics themselves offer such a great life lesson.
There is no magic when you sow a field with wheat seeds that you can be pretty darn sure that wheat is exactly what will sprout up, not barley, oats, or corn. But, of course, it also holds true that if you sow a field in weeds, it is weeds that will surely sprout. Who, though, in his right mind dares sow weeds instead something useful and productive like vegetables or pretty flowers? Besides, weeds tend to grow up voluntarily around the vegetables anyway unless we are intentional about weeding them out. Are our personal lives not just like that?
I’m reminded of Robert, a recovering drug addict I once knew, who used to say that “if you hang out with bad people, bad things are going to happen,” then quickly add, “but if you hang out with good people, good things are going to happen.” He knew that from first-hand experience, having spent his early years hanging out with bad people who led him into the underground world of illicit drugs and the inevitable consequences of that lifestyle; that is, until he started hanging out with some good kinds of people who helped him through recovery to become useful and productive – from a weed to a flower.
A happy productive life is like gardening, being intentional about what we hope to produce, not only for ourselves but for those around us – our children, co-workers, neighbors, and fellow citizens. Plant a carrot / Get at carrot / Not a Brussels sprout. / That’s why I like vegetables. / You know what you’re about. And what we plant in our gardens says a lot about what we are about, does it not? As the scriptures say, “A man reaps what he sows. . . [so] let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”