We will Reap what We Sow

Sooner or later, we will reap what we sow. As is said, “what goes around, comes around.” The ancient principle called the “logos” in the West and “karma” or the “tao” in the East, maintains that there is an direct cause and effect connection between what we do and what will come back upon us, good for good and evil for evil. Hence, we create our own heaven or hell as consequences of our actions.

This is both good and bad news, depending on our actions. The really good part of the news is that we can always change our karma. We can do a Scrooge. I well remember a dear friend who had a dramatic change in her karma record. She died on an operating table, while having open-heart surgery. She suddenly found herself standing outside her flat-lined body, watching the surgical team frantically attempting to revive her. Then she sensed the presence of God. Though she could not see God, she was certain God was there. Feeling wonderful warmth and love, she said God asked her a single question, telepathically: “Do you want to come with Me, or do you want to go back?”

Rapidly reflecting on her life up to that point, and all the persons she had hurt, she said, “I want to go back and make things right.” As soon as she said that, she found herself back in her body, and in pain. She would recover, and interestingly, she accurately described who was doing what while she was standing outside her body, a seeming impossibility.

Good to her word, like Scrooge on the morning after his visitations, she began to do all the good she could. She joined the church I was serving, and quickly became one of my “go-to” coworkers for God. To this day, she remains a good friend and blessing to many.

I take very seriously the conviction that what we do now will to a significant extent determine the fruit of our future. And along with the ancients, I believe that if we do not get in this life the reward and/or retribution we have coming, we will do so in the afterlife.

Sometimes I merely plant seeds of good will; sometimes I water what someone else had previously planted; and sometimes I get to harvest what I neither planted nor nurtured into maturity. I seek to sow seeds of cheerfulness, confidence and hope wherever I go. I just want to bring a little more light into the world around me. I am a sucker for the message of the song, “If everyone lit just one little candle, what a bright world this would be.” I once joined thousands of persons singing that and lighting little candles in a packed and temporarily darkened football stadium. It must have been life-changing, because something inside me said “Yes.”

Wherever you sow, there you will likely also eventually reap. There are essentially two fields in which to invest yourself, your time and energy: relationships or things. You will seek to invest yourself either in persons or in plenty, either to acquire love relationships or wealth. The latter you definitely cannot take with you; the former just may constitute heaven, begun here and now and hopefully continued in the beyond. You can be wealthy in relationships or in things, but rarely in both – because there simply is not enough time to attain both. Life will force you to make hard choices. Choose wisely, and above all, love well.