Fall is harvest season, so maybe that’s why it caught my attention when we read through Paul’s letter to the Galatians in the #Daily Audio Bible and encountered this verse:

Logically, this makes sense. Nobody would argue with the fact that if you plant corn in the spring, you will reap corn in the fall. If you plant beans, you won’t get cucumbers or pumpkins. You’ll get beans. Again, all very logical.

So it makes me wonder why we all, at times, plant garbage into our lives and then are surprised when we reap garbage. Even worse, sometimes we blame God when we reap the garbage we’ve planted. We shake our fists at him for not answering our prayers.

When it comes to living our everyday lives as followers of Christ, we have, throughout each day, many opportunities to choose whether to practice the presence of God or to act as though God is not present in our lives.

If we plant seeds of practicing God’s presence, we will reap his blessings. What does that look like? It looks like thanking him for the blessings he gives us every day. It looks like asking him to help us navigate a difficult situation. It looks like turning to him when fear bubbles up within you. It looks like immersing ourselves in his Word, expecting to hear from him.

This is easier said than done, I know. I mess this up as much as the next person. It’s all too easy to fall into our old patterns of behavior. Of course, the enemy knows this, so he sets those traps for us.

Thankfully, though, our God is patient with us. He waits for us to realize that we’ve screwed up (again) and to meander sheepishly back into his presence. With infinite lovingkindness, he welcomes us back. I am so thankful for that!

It’s worth noting that reaping God’s blessings does not mean we will always get our way or that our lives will be easy. God never promised that.

What he did promise is that our eternal destination was improved considerably and unalterably the moment we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He also promised that all along the way to our heavenly home, he would help us deal with all the rotten things that can happen to us and those we love.

That’s the benefit of sowing the seeds of living into God’s presence. We receive the peace and comfort and strength we need to deal with life. If you sow any seeds other than that, you will find yourself harvesting a crop of weeds: fear, anxiety, anger, hatred, greed, strife, jealousy, selfishness, lust, violence. You know, all the stuff you see in the news.

What kind of crop would you like to reap in your life? Whatever it is, are we sowing the right kinds of seeds to get the crops we want?