Motivators...to Keep You Going

It is the time of year for the corn harvest in the Midwest. The problem in the area where I'm at...wetness. It has been just wet enough that farmers have not been able to finish cutting the corn. The anxiousness that must flood the mind of a farmer on a regular basis is beyond my scope of understanding, as I'm not a farmer. With each crop, planting and harvesting, there is the challenge of timing. Following the planting comes the anxiousness of the balance of moisture and sunlight.

When I read this week's quote, I thought of a few different things to start it off with, but my mind kept coming back to the farmer. Here's this week's quote...

Faith and doubt both are needed, not as antagonists, but working side by side to take us around the unknown curve. ~Lillian Smith

Not being a farmer, I am going off of experiences being around farmers. When a farmer goes to plant, with hopes of the upcoming harvest that will take place in a few months, I can't help but to think he has faith and doubt. Faith that the crop will have a high yield and doubt that the weather will be without fail. I'm sure there are other 'faiths' and 'doubts', but either way the farmer keeps forging ahead, year after year, because he's been through it before and it keeps him going to the unknown season that lies ahead.

The same can go for us in life. We have no idea what the day may bring, but we keep going. For someone who sees no hope, you may need to add the faith, for doubt is rampant.

When I travel in the mountains, I can't see where the next town is, generally. I doubt that it is around the next curve, but I have faith it is coming up. It keeps me going!

May faith and doubt be the salt and pepper to keep you going in life!

Monday Mentionings: Fertile From Fertilization

Family ~

What a great day it was to be with the family! I left excited, uplifted, and ready to start my week!

My life has changed dramatically since I started asking God for “surprises.” It seems that more often than not, He is showing me something that I didn’t expect. Today was just all the “connections” that I got to be involved with as we went to eat, shop, and Baccalaureate. I enjoy reacquainting myself with people that I know from the community – a way to “cultivate” relationships.

As we looked at causing a heart to become “Fertile From Fertilization”, taken from II Timothy 2:6, today and expanded on Paul’s principle of the hardworking farmer, think about these additional applications…

1. Break Open the Soil – Who is someone who you need to break open their “heart-soil”? Someone who you haven’t even thought about “disking” their heart. May God grant you an open door to break up their “heart-soil” and may you recognize when that door opens and have the courage to walk through it. Remember the question of “I wonder what God is doing right now?” If you don’t already have an ice breaking question, try that one – see what the person’s “heart-soil” is like.
2. Work the Soil – The size of the “clods” in the soil will depend on how much working over you need to do to the soil to get it ready for planting. The main emphasis in this passage is that the farmer is “hard working”, and so that application falls back on us by being involved! This is the fun part; you get to team up with God and get a piece of the action.
3. Apply Fertilizer to the Soil – As different types of plants need different types of fertilizer, and then decide what the person you are connecting with needs to make it a good environment for the seed to grow. We talked about how some plants, like corn, will need a certain amount of potash to make the yield ideal. Though you may not know what a person’s “heart-soil” is deficient in, right away, you can always give a good dose of kindness because that never hurt anyone. In other words, actual chemicals might have a poison point, where too much of something may actually cause death to the plant. However, when dealing with people, there isn’t much of a risk involved in giving too much of something – like love, joy, peace, patience, etc… So, whether you are fertilizing with one of the elements from the Fruit of the Spirit or if you are adding something like encouragement, you have little risk of “over doing” it. Our big challenge is the “doing” in the first place.

I have prayed that God surprises you today! Share any “surprises”...

Have a great Monday!

Looking for the “Surprise of the Day” ~
Jarrod