by Garry Spotts

Created on: July 11, 2009

The often quoted adage, "You Reap What You Sow!" provides us a clear evidence that planting is an apt metaphor for life. Recorded in sacred documents of many religions is the wisdom that the produce of your life is the result of the seeds you plant. The New Testament book, Galatians records in the sixth chapter the following words: "Don't be misled-you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant."

The real challenge with the truth that your life is a continuous series of plantings and harvests is that most people fail to see the causal relationship between their actions and the results that the either enjoy or hate. Understanding life as a revolving cycle of planting and harvesting and your thoughts and actions as the seeds which produce the harvest will go a long way toward impacting the quality of your life decisions.

Planting and harvesting in agriculture are easy to understand. You plant a seed in ground that has been prepared for it, you nurture the ground and the seedling for a season of growth and finally you harvest it when it has ripened. Every part of our lives is touched by this process and we must embrace it to effectively manage and plan for the produce we want in life.

Planting and Harvesting Relationships

Our relationships are clearly planting and harvesting cycles. You identify a person in whom you choose to invest or plant "unique value" (love) at which point they become your "significant" other. We plant value which we describe as love in the person with the expectation that our investment will be rewarded with a reciprocal investment in us. We rear our children and invest/plant our values, our work ethic, our hopes and dreams for them expecting that they will mature into adults whom we both admire and respect.

Planting and Harvesting Professionally

Every class you took from primary through secondary grades, from your freshman through senior years of college and any training you undertook since were seeds planted in your life with the expectation of some greater return in the future.

Purposefulness in Planting

One of significant errors we make in life is not deciding what we want to harvest before we choose what to plant. Success is an intentional act just as planting a garden. There is no way to harvest tomatoes unless you plant tomatoes. Every seed will produce after its kind. As Steven Covey suggests in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, "Begin With The End In Mind."

Planting

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>