photos by: JODIE BRIM CREATIVE
Is it just me? Am I the only one who euphorically glides through the holidays only to crash land right into the New Year?
Once the magic of Christmas rests upon the shelf of our memory, the New Year stubbornly comes knocking. I quickly realize I don’t have my junk together. I nervously ponder potential resolutions only to realize I’m rehashing last year’s fizzled pursuits.
Many of us don’t run with laser beam focus toward what we truly want because we don’t have the slightest clue what it is that we want.
You know it’s true. We keep doing what we’ve always done and keep getting what we’ve always gotten. Familiar becomes the strategy. Predictable becomes the standard bearer.
Could it be that we don’t allow ourselves to dream for our future because we’ve learned to expect more of the same? Could it be that we’ve assumed our beginning essentially decides our finish?
Experience teaches that the trajectory of our journey doesn’t generally change course overnight. It’s hard work. In fact, it’s a lot easier to keep the freightliner of life moving in the same direction, isn’t it?
Friend, I’ve come by to shake you out of your slumber. It’s like this. If we add nothing to our sick marriages, we get nothing. If we improve nothing in our fizzled finances and joyless jobs, we receive nothing. In fact, if we continue on this course, we eventually have nothing to worry about because all that’s left is…well, nothing.
Life is one continuous farming adventure. Each of us plants seeds that produce returns. The sowing always determines the harvest. It’s as sure as the sun rising.
This is where it gets tricky. Every seed is true to itself. It operates with meticulous intention. It’s just that we don’t always execute our planting with that same resolve. (What the what is she talking about?)
Seed is a stubborn thing. Every seed produces a return that resembles itself. You can’t plant apple seeds and get oranges. The apple seed is always going to produce apples no matter how many orange trees surround it.
See, it’s true to itself. There’s nothing random or arbitrary about the seed’s objective or outcome. It doesn’t act haphazardly…but sometimes we do.
What kinds of seed are we sowing? We can’t constantly complain about our marriage and expect a different harvest. We can’t perpetually grumble about our job and think it’s going to get better. We can’t whine about our wallets as if it’s hopeless and expect to bump into hope.
My husband says it like this.
“Seed is a little piece of tomorrow. It’s the smallest form of next!”
Sure, there’s some plowing to be done before a good harvest comes. To be honest, in that “in between” season of planting and return, it feels as if absolutely nothing budges, much less grows. But THEN…inevitably, harvest appears that resembles the seed we sow! You suddenly realize the planting and plowing are worth the work!
Listen, friend. God speaks this blessing over your life today. “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
Just look at how much God believes in your future. Catch a glimpse of how invested He is in your destiny.
It’s time to shake off self-pity and every excuse that keeps you where you are. Stop permitting the pain of your past to threaten the joy of your future. Stop letting the chaos of your beginning confine the dreams you chase. Stop allowing your present deficits to restrict your view from all God has dreamed for you.
No more crash landings. Let’s get to planting. Harvest time is coming! I promise! God does, too!
For comments or prayer, contact Dr. Lanier at HopeCommunityChurch.tv.
