We have a very small garden on the southeast side of our house.  This year, we put in a few tomato, pepper and cucumber plants.  For the first time we put in some onions.  We also have nice strawberries that come in every year.  I love fresh vegetables and fruits.

After all the planting & weeding, I’m a little tired.  This  reminds me that if you want a harvest, you have to prepare for it early.  I read a short book several years ago called,Down to Earth – The Laws of the Harvest, by John Lawrence.  The theme of the book is that God has set up laws in nature and life of sowing and reaping.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:7-10).

So I want to share with you the 7 laws of the harvest:

1. We reap only what has been sown. What we reap was planted either naturally or purposely, either by God or man, for either positive or negative results. We are benefactors of much for which we have done no labor.

2. We reap the same kind as we sow. Whatever we sow, we reap. So, if we sow the good, we will reap the good. If we sow bad, we will reap bad.

3. We reap in a different season than when we sow. No harvest comes the moment the seed is planted. It must wait until God’s appointed time.

4. We reap more than we sow. When we sow the wind, we reap the whirlwind. We we sow good, we reap bountifully from God. The harvest is always greater than the seed planted. If this were not true, no farmer would plant anything. 

5. We reap in proportion as we sow. If we sow little, we reap little. But if we sow much, we reap much.  The more ground we sow, the greater harvest we will have.

6. We reap the full harvest of good only if we persevere; the evil comes to harvest on its own. Weeds gro by themselves. But this is not true with my vegetables in my garden. These require constant care.

7. We cannot do anything about last year’s harvest, but we can about this year’s. Last year is history and cannot be relived. We can do nothing about the past.  Our concern needs to be for what we are producing right now.

These universal ‘laws’ are like gravity.  I once saw a bumper sticker that read, “Gravity – It isn’t just a good idea, it’s the law.”  That’s the way these laws of harvest work.  We are planting today what we will harvest sometime in the future.

What are you planting today?  Remember, you can’t do much about today’s harvest, but you can do something about the future harvest.