You Reap What You Sow

You Reap What You sow

Sometimes, a simple saying can be overlooked, lose it meaning. You reap what you sow is a great wisdom, it is foundational to all understanding.

And what is wisdom? We say a man is wise, that he has good judgement. Wisdom allows good judgement, good decisions. A life, a family, a community, a nation, all are built on good decisions.

“You reap what you sow. You will know them by their fruits” are the same thing.

It is the basis of science. There are laws and theories if you perform a certain act, you get a definite result. If you perform a certain act, in a complicated situation, you get a reaction that is impacted by a series of reactions. Every action has a simultaneous reaction and sometimes the elemental action is acted upon by a myriad of related actions. It is like breaking a set of pool balls, they scatter in a haphazard way, but, if you used precise mathematics the result of what seemed haphazard would be, if the exact forces and angles and relationships between stacked balls were duplicated, in the exact same sequence and, in essence, is not haphazard.

Nothing in the universe is haphazard.

Maybe that should be a law. I do not believe that it is, but the assumption is the basis of the wisdom of Einstein.

It should be a law that you reap what you sow that actions have consequences that an action has a corresponding reaction and that any action sets off a chain of reactions, like an atomic bomb.

Actions can be benevolent or destructive.

Mrs. O’Leary’s cow could cause Chicago to burn, or it could have been the wind or some toddler, a malicious person. There is always a cause, something that has the ability to cause a reaction.

In Florida, it is hurricane season. We have had a series of hurricanes over the last four years. Too many hurricanes. They all start as tropical depressions, many off the coast of Africa, but some form fast and become formidable in the Gulf of Mexico (United States). All have basic similarities, react in the same way but each is reacted upon by different outside forces, ocean and air currents. We monitor them with airplanes, electronic instruments. We have developed a hurricane science that predicts intensity, speed, and direction; considerable effort and resources have been applied but the predictions are never exact or ever will be. What we know for sure is that hurricanes are destructive and beneficial and if warnings go up, we should be prepared because storm surge and wind predictions will be accurate and the destruction of each category will fall within a certain pattern.

Beware.

Actions have consequences. Nature is always benevolent. Nature, to man, might not seem benevolent but a wise man knows the world around him. “A wise man does not build his house on sand.” He takes into account weather patterns, the seasons of the year.

Consequences themselves cause patterns. Dismal scientists: Economists, Social Scientist, build patterns. Many are not wise men.

We don’t sow much today. At least we don’t sow as those in past generations sowed. Sowing and reaping were elemental, had immediate impact…starvation.

I seem to prefer immediate consequences. My dream job would be a professional tennis player or golfer; you win or you loose; it is all dependent on individual effort and adaptability. I ended up being a stock trader.

Actually, each of us has a great impact, everything that we do or don’t do causes chain reactions or patterns. Patterns, in humans, are called habits, habits can either be bad or good. So… in a way, we are all golfers or tennis players; whether we realize it or not our destiny is our own, our creation. Whatever we are, the fruits of our reactions to the currents that surround us; we are either wise or foolish.

To live a good life, it is necessary to be wise. You need a foundational knowledge. You need to know some basic laws, truths.

The universe is not haphazard. I am master of my fate. You will know them by their fruits. If they lie in little things they lie about everything.

What is the consequence of drugs… degradation, death. If you have fiends, participate in such a pattern, sow, what will you ultimately reap? Environment is important.

Most complicated things are elemental. Whatever you sow bears a harvest, has consequences.

We have free will; we can choose between actions, we can discern consequences, or we can be educated, look at past consequences to certain actions and the resulting patterns. But there are always competing theories, different beliefs. Beliefs can be laws, definite reaction to definite action, or they can be intransigent opinion. Belief is essential and belief can be catastrophic. It is always better to be adaptive, especially when others are extolling one fixed opinion or another. Adhering to false, totalitarian, forced dogma is most dangerous but being a feather floating on an air current is disastrous.

A person, in a desert or upon an ocean, without knowledge of stars or compass, is lost, will perish.

We all need a lodestone, something that creates within us a powerful tool of discernment, direction, truth.

If you go back to the Stoics, the foundation of a good life, amidst the vagaries and degrees of experience in life, their foundation, described by the eloquence and practicality of Marcus Aurelius, is a supreme essence in the universe, a creator, God. Maybe beyond the scope of an ordinary person. But it shows that a practiced, true, erudite mind comes to a basic conclusion that the peace required to live the good life depends on the willingness to surrender to a greater wisdom, the essence of reason.

Christ gave us an elementary question, “Whom will you serve God or Mammon?”

The first Commandment is: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before[a] me”

We are all slaves to something, some guiding force, some belief, some religious fervor. Notice, Christ uses the word mammon, man. He could have used Satan, “The father of all lies.” Man encompasses all the falsehood no matter its spiritual origins. You can rely on the wisdom of God or the wisdom of Egypt, the metaphor for the land of slavery, the false ideas of men. “Beware of false prophets that will even lead the elect astray.”

Most of what we do, we do by default, the things we fail to do. If you do nothing you are ruined yeast, tasteless salt.

I have always been interested in life. I want abundant life. I am not interested in how many angels can stand on the head of a pin, not interested in the Rapture, what heaven will be like, The Trinity. I was just interested in a reason for living.

I experienced Christ. You can not serve nothing; you must know Christ. We all have a distinct way to Christ but we all must begin with an invitation to Christ. There is one God, one truth, all those that search for truth will find what they seek.

The fundamental question is big, “Whom will you serve,” how will that allegiance Impact your life, your destiny, your happiness, meaning, fulfillment and peace of mind. How well will you decide the decisions of life.

For me it has been a 53-year journey, a wonderful life, and a peace beyond understanding. It has been work, trial, tribulation, joys ad sorrow.

Each event brings the opportunity to learn, to be elemental. We can use all the knowledge in The Bible, the Word of Christ, good literature, truth in all its aspects. I ask myself, if I sow this, what will I harvest? It is the way to make, what seem to be a complex issue, simple.

What are the fruits of oil? If we cannot accurately predict the weather next day, how do we know global warming is caused by man? What can we do about it?

If we go into debt, debt that is an albatross around our necks, can we prosper? Can the US prosper? Is government intervention and spending salvation or destruction?

If we allow every homeless person into our homes, will the source of our family’s well being continue? If I take what I didn’t produce, am I a thief? When you are a thief, you steal from yourself. There are thieves that steal billions from millions, they inhabit the world, create patterns of destruction, suffering. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul.”

Christ said, “My peace I give you, a peace that the world can not give, a peace beyond understanding.” What is the source of that peace. It is what Christ said, “My food is to do the will of the father.” The same injunction from “Paradise Lost,” thrive where you are, “Each day brings trouble of its own.” Strive to expand knowledge and talents, be content with the things you cannot change or understand.

The essence of wisdom, peace, fruitfulness is surrender to God’s will. It is the faith that keeps us constant in a troubled world, the faith, in practice, that saves us. “Faith without works, fruit, (remember the parable of the fruit tree) is dead.”