Category: becoming a better me

There are some basic truths that rule life, no matter what culture or religion we come from. One that, whether we like it or not, we’re all subject to – is the “Law of the Harvest“. What exactly is that? Well, it is very simple and straight forward – essentially “We reap what we sow“. One of life’s great lessons.

A cousin of the Law of the Harvest is “the LAW OF ATTRACTION” which, simply put, is that “like energy attracts like energy”. A negative, complaining type of person always has something to complain about because they find the negative in everything, while a positive, cheerful person always finds the good to be happy about. I’m sure we all can think of examples of both types of people, and can acknowledge that they create self fulfilling realities for themselves. The law of attraction however, goes further. It is based on the idea that people and thoughts are made up of pure energy and that not only can a person attract positive or negative experiences through their positive or negative thoughts and affirmations, but that the process can literally improve one’s health, wealth and personal relationships. I believe this. To a certain extent. But I feel there is a critical component missing.

Let me explain. Harvest is a natural law, a tangible, physical, visual, easy-to-understand law. It says that harvest always comes after a season of sowing. Every farmer and backyard gardener understands the intimate relationship of sowing and reaping. And it is an analogy that transcends beautifully into all aspects of our lives, including spiritual applications.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galations 6: 7

In 1903, British philosopher James Allen published a book that he called AS A MAN THINKETH. It is based on Psalm 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he“, and follows the process of the mind guiding our footsteps as we progress along the pathway of life. “Purity of mind leads inevitably to purity of life, to the precious love and understanding that should control our everyday acts and attitudes towards friends and foes.” he wrote, and his life exemplified his philosophy.

Born into a working class family in England, James was the older of two brothers. His mother could neither read nor write. His father was a factory knitter. In 1879, following a downturn in the textile trade of central England, James’ father travelled alone to America to find work and establish a new home for the family. Within the first two days of arriving in New York City, his father was killed, believed to be a victim of robbery and murder. At the tender age of fifteen, James was forced to leave school and find work to support his family.

Having a better education than either of his parents, he eventually found work as a private secretary in several British manufacturing companies, and by his early thirties, was earning his living in journalism and reporting.
He married, and found an occupation writing for a magazine where he could rely upon his spiritual and social interests and skill as a writer. This provided him the time and opportunity to be creative, and he published his first of many books, including “As a Man Thinketh”. James and his wife Lily, had only one daughter Nora. He died at the untimely young age of only 47, having written several books, and leaving material that would be published into several more. His words have had a positive impact on generations, and they illustrate the use of the power of thought to increase personal capabilities. Although he personally never achieved great fame or wealth, his words continue more than a century later, to influence people around the world.

The underlying premise of “As a Man Thinketh”, is that noble thoughts make a noble person, while lowly thoughts make a miserable person. Truly, he knew of that which he wrote. A lesser man could easily have let his difficult beginnings pull him down into a defeated life, but against all odds he rose above it. What he learned through a lifetime of application, was that purity of mind can bring happiness and confidence. By magic? By some miraculous process of magnetism? Not at all. But through hard work, and by applying guiding principles that he learned through heartfelt searching. No doubt his father’s tragic death and his family’s economic hardship shaped his future development. He observed that many people were trying to improve their worldly position without seeking spiritual betterment, when he had learned the opposite was true: that by seeking spiritual betterment one gained the power to improve worldly position. He didn’t teach about getting rich, or seeking power, except as it applied to personal empowerment to ACT. And it was through acting upon the truths he learned, that he created a good and fulfilling life for himself and his family.

Through his book, James Allen pointed the true way to a better life. “Out of a clean heart comes a clean life and a clean body,” he wrote, and likewise “Out of a defiled mind proceeds a defiled life and a corrupt body.”

James Allen may have introduced the concept of the law of attraction, but since then, it’s taken a turn that I kinda doubt he would be proud to be connected with. In its basic form – to me, the principle of attraction sidetracks at best, the part God plays in our betterment. For some reason, it seems to attribute the attraction of good to some mystic force of the universe, some inner energy without a name. It circumvents the missing piece of the puzzle. That piece is ACTION. Action follows intent. Intent alone – no matter how much energy we spend thinking about it, is insufficient to bring about change necessary for a different result.

Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl proved that while we cannot always alter the outer forces of our experiences, we can determine the type of person we allow ourselves to become. He said “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl and James Allen could have been great friends if they had lived in the world at the same time. Each of them was influenced by their unique and tragic circumstances, and yet rose above them. Neither pretended it was easy, but their ‘thinking’ ultimately changed their lives.

And that brings us back to where I began – THE LAW OF THE HARVEST. It is a foundational gospel truth. One that we can count on to apply in all aspects of our lives. Yes, it is possible from time to time, for our harvest to be slightly delayed, tricking us into thinking we got away with something. But in the end it always catches up, and we WILL reap what we sow; in the end, we WILL get what we deserve.

That isn’t a threat, and it certainly isn’t always negative, although I admit, sometimes it comes across that way. To every action there is simply a consequence. Years ago, a teacher demonstrated this principle visually for me with a pencil on the table. We may only pick up only one end of the pencil, but the other end is unavoidably affected. We may choose an action, but we cannot choose the consequence. There will always be a consequence, and in many cases that consequence is a pre-selected, natural result – governed by nature.

Ben

I knew a handsome young man once who consistently made poor choices, but rarely seemed to pay their price. I’ll call him Ben. Inevitably Ben’s poor choices would catch up and then pile up, and suddenly some spark would ignite the whole pile, and the world would come crashing down on him in consequence of his latest series of poor choices. Most of those times, Ben chose not to take accountability for the results. It was always easier to blame others, or circumstances beyond his ability to control. Of course, it is more comfortable that way. Not very productive, but a whole lot more comfortable to never accept responsibility for ones failures.

Eventually Ben started making better choices, some might even say – excellent choices. Choices that were difficult, and didn’t show too much comfort in the immediate future, and which required firm resolve and commitment to follow through with them. But the consequences of his previous poor choices had long lasting results and he still had to pay the piper. For a time it seemed that no matter how much he did right, he still lived with the ill consequences of his prior actions. He was still reaping – albeit a little late, the dismal harvest he originally sowed. And ironically, that harvest continued to be in affect a long time after his attitude changed course.

A couple years into these better choices, Ben began to see better results. He had become so accustomed to living with his prior consequences, that he was unprepared when they began to fade into the background. One day he realized his life had taken a turn for the better and he literally marveled at the good place in which he found himself. But it was not by accident, nor coincidence, nor even simply a change of heart. The fact was, that the unfortunate consequences had nearly all run their course, and he was starting to live with the results of his better choices. The natural consequences of THEM. A much fuller harvest.

Specifically, how did the Law of the Harvest apply in Ben’s life?
He paid a price for his poor choices. At the time the price seemed disproportionately high to him, and lasted too long, and in some ways, he is still living with the regrets of some of them. But he has placed them in the past and moved forward. When his choices matured, and his actions followed, he began reaping a richer harvest.

Amelia

Amelia is a lovely young mother with a handful of cute kids. Now if you’ve never had four or five kids at the same time, trust me – some days can be challenging, even overwhelming. I get it. And overwhelmed she was. Amelia began to dream of the education she wished she had taken seriously in her younger, pre-mom days. And it became easier to escape into a desire to improve her mind, than it was to take care of her children. She justified it of course, because who can find fault with the desire to improve one’s education? It is a noble goal. But the timing was now difficult. Children aren’t ‘hobbies’. They are living, breathing human beings with personalities and potential. Their health and well being is completely dependent upon their parents. They literally have CLAIM upon us, legally, morally, and eternally.

The truth was, Amelia found reading her ‘lessons’ more fulfilling than doing dishes, changing diapers and cleaning house. She found the things that she was learning were insightful, satisfying, and rewarding. The more she escaped to her studies, the worse life became around the house. Who’s gonna make the meals? Not mom. She’s busy improving her mind. Who’s gonna clean the house, take the kids to school, help them with homework, ensure they get their chores done, learn personal grooming, develop good friendships and interpersonal skills, gain confidence to deal with challenges and to go into the big wide world? Not mom. She’s busy improving her mind and getting the education she wished she got when she was younger. Can you see where this was headed?

The result was a house of chaos, and the more chaotic it became, the more Amelia retreated behind closed doors to study her ‘lessons’ – because after all, she had important things to do. Education was important, and she was choosing it. It made her feel good. It was much more meaningful that the lowliness of housework, and the drudgery of meal planning – both of which as we all know, never-Ever end. But no matter how distracted you are, there are basics that need to be done in any household, especially where there are children. So who was preparing the meals? Doing the laundry? Doing the shopping?
It isn’t that Amelia didn’t love her children. Any one could see she did. She simply found it easier to depend on others to rescue her when she so often fell behind. She got used to friends bringing in family meals. Often. She got used to friends coming in and cleaning when the house got away from her. She began thinking it was her ‘due’. She expected it. She couldn’t even count the times her well-meaning friends and neighbours had helped out with various things – trying to lighten her load. Sometimes when the meal wasn’t just right, or it was a few minutes late, or was too similar to what someone else brought recently, she’d even complain. Just a little.

The Law of the Harvest was gonna play out in Amelia’s situation; of that there was never any doubt. In fact, it already was. And it was beginning to look tragic.

If I had a relationship of trust with Amelia, the first thing I would suggest she do, is to visualize what kind of harvest she wants at the end of this metaphorical ‘season’. My guess is that in her heart of hearts, she’d want happy, healthy children – equipped to handle the adult world confidently, who know and love their Heavenly Father, and keep his commandments. I believe she’d want to have a happier marriage, where both she and her spouse were not only contributing active parents, but equal loving partners. If I am right, I might suggest she look at her current actions and ask herself serious questions like:
“How is this action going to help my son have a better day in school tomorrow? my daughter be a good friend? show my children that I love them and that home is a safe and happy place? How is this going to help my children grow into the happy, confident individuals I want them to be? How will this help me be a better mother and/or a better spouse, and show my spouse that I value him?” and so forth . . .

If the honest answer to any of these questions is “Its not” then, I might suggest its time to reassess the action. Children grow up all too soon, there will be time for Amelia to catch up on her education. It’s alright for her to lay it aside for the time being and focus on those who need her.

How awful would it be, to finally reach the top of the ladder we spend years climbing, only to find out it is leaning against the wrong wall?

Specifically, how can Amelia use “the Law of the Harvest” to guide her life?
Amelia planted tomatoes in the sun, and she waters them when she feels motherly, but she’s expecting others to stake them and prune them.

She could try to understand that as a mother, she owes her children more than she is currently giving them. By nurturing the seeds she’s already sown, she will be investing in a more rewarding harvest at the end of season, with fewer regrets. Taking care of the immediate priority of children now, doesn’t imply that she will never be able to fulfill her dream of getting her degree. Not at all. To everything there is a season. Delaying the harvest of one, for the harvest of another that is more important, and by necessity more immediate – is not failure. It is a conscious choice of priority.

Alex

Alex was a sales rep for a well known tech company. His company was the biggest in the country, and he was one of the top sales reps in his region. His clients were professionals, and he was a man of no small reputation. Some time ago, a competing company hired Alex, thinking to benefit from his experience and success in the field, and perhaps even to gain some of his existing customers.

They soon discovered however, that though he was knowledgeable in his field, he was arrogant and unteachable. They learned that though he could give exemplary service, he rarely did; he didn’t like being inconvenienced. Yes, he represented his company with confidence, but he was pushy and impatient with prospective clients. He was the top of the food chain and he liked it there. He felt that he shouldn’t have to work as hard as others did anymore, after all, his ship had already come in. And it was a yacht. His reputation among his clients and peers was now one of mixed reviews. Some respected his knowledge, others resented his arrogance. Some appreciated his confidence, others did not feel he valued their opinions.

Specifically, how is the Law of the Harvest playing out in Alex’s life?
At some point, Alex had sown good seed to get where he was. Because the harvest he was currently reaping was the result of previous work, Alex is choosing to not pay attention to how things are changing. Perhaps his previous company had an edge earlier, because of something completely independent of him, and he may have been in the right place at the right time. Perhaps existing clients simply don’t like change, so they stuck with him out of habit. Who knows? Whatever the truth is, his previous reputation and professional success was a harvest he happily reaped. But he forgot about the principle of choice and accountability, and its close tie to the law of the Harvest. He neglected to take into consideration how small the professional world in his field is, and how reputation spreads. With his current attitude and work ethic, he is now sowing an entirely different crop than the one he wanted. He wants tomatoes, but he was caring for them as if they were hostas. Hostas don’t want sun; tomatoes must have it. If you want tomatoes Alex, you must do more than put the seed into the ground. You must give them what they need to flourish.

Frank

Sometimes we get in our own way and we refuse to take responsibility for our own faults. Frank is not getting the shifts he wants at work. He feels persecuted by his supervisor, and is considering filing a complaint with the union. Frankly, (no pun intended), he is lazy and has a reputation for shuffling off when there’s work to be done. Colleagues don’t like working with him, and some have even asked not to. The problem is, that Frank convinces himself he is a good employee, and tells anyone who wants to hear it. He doesn’t think there is anything amiss with his performance.

Sometimes we need to take a long hard look at ourselves and ask what our responsibility is when we are not seeing the desired harvest. I have no idea what can be done for someone who is so blind to their own faults.

Helen

Helen is negative about most things: her job and the people she works with, her neighbours, her friends, her spouse, her in-laws, . . . . . She has a hard time seeing the good in people and talks ‘smack’ about them behind their backs. When people hear what she says about others, they wonder what she says about them. She has a victim mentality and feels like everyone is out to get her (and by extension, her family). She is quick to be offended, and has no problem telling people off when she is. She considers herself a loyal friend, but usually that means taking up their fight with them. Consequently she doesn’t have a good group of friends who want to be around her. Her nature makes it difficult sometimes to recognize the blessings she has in her life.

Like Frank, Helen may need to take a long hard look in the mirror to discover her responsibility when she doesn’t see her desired harvests. The most important thing she needs to recognize, is that many of her problems are self made. She can learn to alter her thinking with a little hard work, but first she must be able to accept that the common denominator in all she finds wrong with her world, might be herself. And that is not an easy thing to admit. For anyone.

Dean

Dean just got laid off. He hadn’t seen it coming, and assumed it never would. He had had a government position, and kinda felt that he was immune from such things. Like thousands of others, he had been working a lot from home during the Covid months, but was asked to come into the office Monday. That was that. Done. A fair severance, but no job. Understandably, it took a few days to digest it and to be able to talk about it. He reviewed his family’s situation: He had three young children at home. His wife had been working part time – picking up shifts now and again. He had been with his current employer for almost a decade and had a good reputation there; he knew he could get some good references. He and his wife had a house with a mortgage of course. They didn’t live outside of their means. They paid an honest tithing, and understood the blessings that came from doing so. They had a couple of older vehicles that he always kept in good condition. Most importantly, other than their mortgage, they had strictly avoided debt. What a relief that was at the moment! He felt sure that that fact alone was going to reduce the stress and nervousness of being between jobs for awhile.

Hard to say how long it might take for Dean to find another job in this market. Thankfully, they have some modest savings that they’d have to be careful with, but when combined with his severance, it will help. But back to the debt thing. They have NO credit card debt! No heavy monster interest hanging over their heads.

Specifically, how does “the Law of the Harvest” apply here?
One cannot assume that doing one’s best will shield them from trials. Trials are inherent to our mortal experience, and we can learn a lot from them, but there are things we can do in preparation to prevent them from being worse than they have to be. We can in fact, soften their blow. By paying an honest tithing, and avoiding credit card debt, Dean protected himself and his family in the very best way he could have. Although this unemployment experience was not on his radar, he was prepared for it. He understands that while it is only a bump in the road, it could be a big bump. But it is not the harvest. The harvest is yet to come.

~

The moral of these stories is singular: “If you want tomatoes, plant TOMATOES.”
Plant exactly what you hope to sow. Tomato seeds yield tomato plants, which in turn produce more tomato seeds.
Keep your desired harvest in mind: TOMATOES.
Choose your actions intentionally.
Whatever they are, YOU WILL REAP WHAT YOU SOW. Using my friends Ben, Amelia, Alex, Frank, Helen and Dean as examples, consider the seeds you are currently planting, and ask yourself if those are the ones you really want to harvest? At one time Alex sowed tomatoes, but he hasn’t taken care of them for a long time, and he cannot expect to continue to reap a harvest he is no longer nurturing.

sometimes we Sabotage ourselves with self defeating behaviour

When one finds problems overwhelming, or maybe even painful, it is tempting to find a bandage, some kind of self-medicating behaviour, rather than learning from those experiences or developing strategies to work through them. Self medicating behaviours are ones that offer relief from pain, or fear-of-failure, and though some can be helpful in the short term, many times they are counterproductive. Self medicating behaviours that remove the worst of our fears, might take the form of alcohol, drugs, inappropriate relationships, self harm, over eating, over exercising, pornography, over spending, excessive indulgences, and so forth. The problem with this solution is that eventually it wears off. And reality comes back into focus, revealing the same problem that never really went away, and has now resurfaced. And we have still not developed skills to deal with it. Instead of learning skills to improve, we have simply learned to escape, and very often have introduced a new problem that can be worse than the original. Addiction.

The more one employs escape strategies, the more dependent we become on them. We find relief there. In our self medicating behaviour we chill out, we become more confident, we like ourselves better, we lose our usual inhibitions. Its a happy place for us. But soon enough it ends again, and we’re back to where we started – again. And the only things we seem to be learning, are quicker ways to escape those things we find difficult. Addiction is forming. Addiction to what? Addiction to whjhjhatever behaviour you are employing to avoid the pain you are living with. The longer you go on, the more serious your addiction becomes and the less you are equipped to deal with the new consequences that it brings with it.

And of course, there will be a reaping of this too.

In my studies and reflection, I have come up with five principles of the Law of the Harvest. They’re not official, not very profound, and probably never gonna be written anywhere else but here. But they are personal to me, learned through my experience. Understanding them helps me apply them to my benefit, and they help me hold myself accountable. Perhaps you may find them of benefit as well.

Lesson 1 – We Reap what we sow

Look ahead. What is it you WANT to end up with?
If you want tomatoes, start by PLANTING tomatoes. Find out all that tomatoes need to thrive and do you very best to give it to them. They need as much sun as possible, so pick a sunny spot. They need nutrients, so make sure their soil is rich, continually adding to it with compost and mulch. They need air, so prune and stake them to ensure they have space to grow, and air flow to prevent disease. They need water, but water remaining on their leaves may cause disease, so water from beneath.
When you ensure tomatoes have the very best environment and care, you can reasonably expect a bountiful harvest of beautiful, flavourful, nourishing tomatoes. Taking shortcuts in any of these areas will reduce the quality of your harvest. Planting marigolds will not give you a basketful of tomatoes. And letting dandelions flourish will not give you a basketful of tomatoes.

Reading text books will not get your kitchen cleaned up, and meals made. Browsing Pinterest, and flipping through magazines will not give you the kitchen you desire.
Staying in bed all day because you’re overwhelmed, with not help your kids learn the golden rule and develop feelings of self worth.

When you have decided what you WANT in a final harvest, plant THOSE seeds, and NURTURE them along the whole season.

Lesson 2 – Sometimes the harvest is not immediate

Trying to cheat the natural consequences of our actions prevents us from valuable learning opportunities and preparation. We simply will not develop the skills we should have. Our world is governed by natural laws; its how we know objects will fall down instead of up, how we know the sun will rise in the morning, and why we know the rain will get us wet. These are things we can count on, without which life would be chaos.

Sometimes we make poor decisions, choices others may even have warned us not to make, actions that we innately sense are not for our own good, . . . nevertheless, we don’t suffer. In fact, everything seems to continue on pretty much as normal. We enjoy the immediate fruits of over spending, we neglect to change the oil in our car regularly, or maintain tire pressure properly, and yet it seems to run fine, we eat poorly but our health doesn’t suffer, we don’t study but we do well in class, …. etc. The delay of consequences can be empowering. We might even feel that we cheated them. Then all of a sudden, the exam looms and we know we’re going in unprepared, we can’t afford to pay the bills, the motor in our car fails and our tires wear out quicker than they should, our lack of energy catches up to us, and we seem to be getting sick a lot, . . . . . . Our lack of preparatory work becomes painfully evident, and bluffing our way through isn’t working anymore. It seems the whole world comes crashing down all at the same time, and we can’t “catch a break”. We compare ourselves to others, and fail miserably. And most importantly, we are stressed to the max, and unhappy.

Then the opposite may also be true from time to time. We try our best. We do everything we know how to do, to abide by ‘the rules’ associated with promised blessings. We work tirelessly, we follow the golden rule, we put God first, we pray for help, we teach our children, we show them by example the path we’d like them to follow, . . . and yet it seems, the same problems continue to plague us. We can’t get ahead, the light at the end of the tunnel seems so far away we can’t see it clearly, our kids choose paths we know will bring them misery. I’ve been there, I know how discouraging some of those things can feel. But I have learned that no matter what it looks like now, the promised harvest is absolutely assured. We must carry on, stay the course, do the right thing because IT IS the right thing, having faith that God is in control.

A favourite scripture of mine says:
“There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated – and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (D&C 130:20,21)
I have seen it come true time and time again. I have absolute confidence in it. You might say it has become a mantra to me, encouraging me on, trusting that God is in control and that I will receive the promised blessing.

Lesson 3 – Trust that the harvest WILL come, and it will be exactly what we sowed.

We live in an immediate gratification world that sometimes makes us believe everything should happen instantaneously. That’s hard to argue with, when so much around us reinforces it. Infinite information is a only a click away. We talk to anyone we want, practically anytime we want, from wherever we happen to be. New furniture is ours with the click of a mouse, delivered to our door next Monday. There is an app for everything. Instant results. We don’t like to wait, and we don’t see why we should have to. Hey, I live in the same world. I am as guilty as anyone else.

So how do we trust in something that doesn’t seem to be happening quick enough? How do we learn to step back, take a breath and have confidence in something we seemingly have no assurance of? Well, there are some things we DO have assurance of. Some things that we can count on.

“I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” (D&C 82:10)

“Do what I say.”? . . .
I can do that. I want to do that. I will do that. I made a commitment long ago to do that. Sometimes I might have to learn His will on a particular subject, but when I do, I will do whatever is necessary to align myself to it. Why? Because of this assurance: “My words are sure and shall not fail, …. wherefore be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great. Behold the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; …. ” (D&C 64:31-34)

I decided long ago that there was no one I wanted bound to me, more than God. His counsel here is simple and straight forward, hard to misunderstand: “DO WHAT I SAY”. His promise is equally simple and straight forward: “I THE LORD AM BOUND”. The opposite is true in reverse “when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.”

~

Someone recently told me that not only was I relying on unsustainable promises regarding the law of the harvest, but that I was encouraging others to put too much stock in harvests that may never come. She pointed out that sometimes a gardener plants and cares for a garden only to lose it through no fault of his or her own. Drought. Disease. Hail. Early frost. Any number of rotten tricks that nature can play on us will affect a harvest. And can even remove a season’s harvest completely from the picture. I know that. I’ve lost seasons’ harvests to unexpected early frosts, to hail and to other things beyond my control. But it has not diminished my testimony of the bigger picture.

Many years ago, we had an experience that taught me a life long lesson, that became the foundation of what would develop into a strong testimony of this principle. It is a lesson that I have seen recur multiple times, not just in my own life, but in the lives of those I love. Dan and I lived in a small Alberta city – Camrose. Our first baby had just been born, Dan was working in a bank there, and we began to set down roots, expecting Camrose to be our home for some time to come. We bought a modest home that we were to take possession of July 1, and since it was empty, we asked if we could plant a garden before we moved in. It was to be our first ‘real’ garden in our very own ‘real’ home. We felt so grown up.

We planted the garden. I have no idea what we planted in it, only that we did. About the middle of June, Dan lost his job. Big surprise, and overnight everything changed. We couldn’t take possession of the house obviously, and we had already put in notice with our landlord. So we packed up and moved into Dan’s mom’s basement while we tried to figure out what we were going to do from there. By September, Dan was back at school upgrading, working on the weekends delivering pizza, and we found a little apartment in our old ward on the west side of Edmonton. Friends in the ward were harvesting their own gardens and we received garden gifts from time to time. Cucumbers here, tomatoes there, lettuce, carrots and beets – it was wonderful. One day I mentioned to my new friend Shirley Clelland, “I didn’t even have a garden this year, and yet I am harvesting probably more than I would have if I had had one .” She offered a perspective I had never considered, with a gospel truth I had not known.

“You may not have harvested your own garden Cindy,” she said “but you DID plant a garden. And it is because of your garden that you are being blessed this way.“  She pointed out the principle of obedience. That promise that when we obey a law, we receive the blessings associated with it. Plain and simple – according to her. The prophet said “plant a garden” – we had. The circumstances surrounding the fact that we didn’t harvest it were incidental. The principle stood. She bore testimony to me in her straight forward way, that I could count on that principle all the days of my life. “There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated.” she recited, “And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which is is predicated.” (D&C 130:20,21) I didn’t know it then, but my life changed that day.

I had seen the fruit of the principle with my own two eyes. And yes, Shirley was right, I had planted a garden. Pitiful though it might have been, I had been obedient. I had tried my best to obey. That was all that mattered. God is in the details. When we get stuck in expecting the harvest to look exactly how we think it should, we may miss a lot.

Lesson 4 – Don’t discount a harvest simply because it looks different than you expected

Assurance of a harvest doesn’t mean you’re always gonna have a bumper crop of tomatoes. It doesn’t guarantee employment, or freedom from problems. And obeying gospel laws and principles doesn’t protect us from all of life’s trials. But it will frame them differently, and it will make all the difference in the final outcome.

We’ve had our share of unemployment. Along with many others in the economic downturn Alberta experienced in the mid 1980’s, we lost our house. Dan went back to school and worked part time when we had four children. There were many hard things about those years, and in the following years of repaying student loans. And there were great blessings too, although none of them looked much like money. We learned the importance of having a Food Storage, and we relied upon it. We learned to live within our means. We learned the difficult lesson of staying out of debt. Dan got a job he enjoyed with the government, and we got on with the business of raising our children.

In 1996 we bought a failing business that we believed we could turn around. An independent niche Bookstore. It wasn’t a dream we’d always had, it simply presented itself one day, and it felt like the right thing to do. Dan continued to work full time, and I took over the management of it. Our kids all worked there over the years we owned it, and there were many wonderful things that came from those years. But it was very hard too. 60 hour weeks. The first four years of no income from it – every dollar went back into it, paying off the bank loan, overhead, stock, freight, staff, . . . . etc etc etc. About five years later, we had a big surprise. One day Dan went to work as usual, and was home two hours later.

Downsized. It took our breath away. We were stunned. Could hardly speak. It took a few days before we could even tell the kids. We had five children by then, our daughter had just gotten married, our oldest son had recently returned from a mission. Our other boys were aged 11 – 17. While we sat together in a family meeting, our oldest asked the question that was on everybody’s mind: “What does this mean? What is this going to look like on the day-to-day? What’s going to change? What do we do different?”

It was with relief and tremendous gratitude that I could reassure them with “We are in good shape. Other than the house, we don’t have any debt. We own two decent cars, if we have to sell one, we can. Our priority is to not loose the house. Every ounce of energy will go into protecting it, and we will do without what we must do without to keep it safe. ” I reminded them of our Food Storage. “From the outside looking in,” I said “it will appear as if life is going on the same as it ever did. We pay our tithing and the Lord will sustain us. We’ll simply be careful until Dad is back to working fulltime.”

It went on a lot longer than we expected; in fact – Dan never did get back into his field. It was an emotionally difficult time, especially hard on him, as much of his confidence and feelings of self worth, were tied up in being gainfully employed. He picked up part time seasonal work at a local hardware store, then started building fences and decks. He eventually started a maintenance business and gained a contract with a big property company in the city. But that took years. Through it all, we still had our bookstore, which just before his layoff had turned a corner in that we had finally paid it off. So many times in the months and years that went by, I paused and considered “Wow! Who could have imagined that this would go on as long as it has? What would have happened to us if we had had credit card debt?” I had no doubt that had we been in unnecessary debt, we would have lost the house.

Bad things happen. Even to good people. Job loss happens. Illness happens. No one is exempt from trials in this life. And some of the harvests are less than stellar. Sometimes what we worked for ends up being regrettable. As difficult as that episode was for us, it was a first rate lesson in the importance of staying out of debt. Debt would have changed our harvest considerably. It was a tangible, touchable lesson for our whole family. Most of our kids were old enough to understand, and went into their own marriages with a healthy appreciation for living within one’s means. For that alone, I would say it was worth it. Not that I’d ever want to go through it again, but what we gained from those hard years is hard to put a price on. The harvest? Nothing we pictured in the beginning. But as so often happens when the Lord is involved, it turned out much better.

Lesson 5 – Don’t look back.

Every season gardeners learn new lessons about what they’re growing. Sometimes the lesson is what worked beautifully, so that we can repeat it. Sometimes the lesson is what NOT to do next time. But whatever we learned, it took the whole season to finalize the lesson. Nothing can be done to reverse a season, and we only get one chance at it. We may even lose the whole season’s harvest.

There is nothing to do, but to go forward. Next time – simply do better, applying what we learned, gaining confidence along the way with improved skills. Maya Angelou’s counsel is another mantra to me, and I have it written in big letters on a wall I see every day. “Do the BEST you can until you know better. Then when you know better, DO BETTER.” I love it because it doesn’t dwell on past mistakes. It encourages me not to grovel in guilt after I have repented. It motivates me to go forward and do better. It is simple and straight forward – just like the gospel. I do best with “simple-and-straight-forward”.

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The law of the harvest is as real to me as the sun and the moon. I have seen it implemented year after year, simple and straight forward, and above all dependable. I have confidence in it. I have reaped many harvests – not all of them good, but they were what I sowed. I am currently reaping a harvest I set in motion many years ago. I trust the principle so much that it is a guiding influence in my life. It motivates every decision. Some people refer to serendipity. Some refer to karma. Some refer to luck. Those things imply fickle ‘chance’, and I cannot invest in chance. The law of the harvest is not chance. It is a natural law, as much as gravity is a law of physics, and we can count on it to the same degree. Even more so. And when we do, I pray that it will be the JOY OF HARVEST we experience, as is so beautifully depicted in Simon Dewey’s classic picture above.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the law of the harvest and how it applies to life outside the garden as well as in it.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle