The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9:6 NRSV
Dad and Mom always had a large garden with everything from beans to zucchini. Included were always several rows of potatoes. We would keep them in our cool, dry basement for storage over the winter. What we didn't use would be plant seeds for the following year. In the spring, we would cut the potatoes into smaller pieces so they'd have 2 or 3 eyes for each bit. Once planted, we would water and weed throughout the summer. Then, in the fall, we would dig up the spot where the seed was planted to find our yield had multiplied. That one little piece cut from the previous year's potato yielded several new pounds of potatoes.
God desires us to be gardeners, planting his good news in the world. Now, we have control over how much we grow. We can plant nothing, holding onto all the potatoes for ourselves eventually though the stockpiling leads to waste. We can't possibly eat all those potatoes by ourselves. We can plant just a few, which is better than not planting at all, but our yield will be small. There will be some new potatoes, but more is needed to last the year. However, our bounty will be much greater if we're generous in our planting.
As God's gardeners, we should maximize our yield. We plant not concerned with scarcity because what we sow is from God's abundance. God has also given us a growing guide, the Bible, that tells us what we should plant–the true gospel, how we should plant–with gentleness, love, and kindness, and when we should plant–always.
God of sowing and harvest, thank you for the opportunity to be your gardeners. Please help us to sow generously to maximize the yield for you. We pray this in the name of Jesus our Christ. Amen.
Blessings,
Pastor Tim
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