Sowing in Spring

Sowing in Spring

A gardener named Ruth was in her eighties when she planted fruit trees she knew she would never personally harvest. Her younger neighbors expressed surprise. She said: 'I'm planting for the people who will live here after me. That's what April is for — not planting for this summer only, but planting for the future.' She planted apple trees, pear trees, and a fig — all trees that take years to bear significant fruit. She said: 'All good things take longer than we expect and benefit more people than we intend. That's just how planting works.' She had never read Galatians 6:9 — but she was living it.

Galatians 6:9 is a verse for the long-term. The harvest Paul describes comes 'at the proper time' — not on our schedule, not proportional to our impatience, but in the fullness of the season. The danger is weariness: the exhaustion of doing good without visible return. The field of good deeds looks barren for long stretches. Seed doesn't look like fruit. But the guarantee stands: if we don't give up, the harvest comes. This applies to parenting, marriage, ministry, friendship, prayer, and any enterprise of patient faithfulness. The key phrase is 'if we do not give up.' The harvest is not contingent on performance — it is contingent on perseverance. Don't quit the field. The harvest is coming.