“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant” – Robert Louis Stevenson.
Your attitude about the future depends on your ability to see the future.
Every person has the inherent ability to dream, design, and experience the future through their hopeful imaginations.
Whatever the capacity the mind has to imagine, it also has the ability to create. All human beings carry a seed to create.
All growth comes from within. We all carry the seed to succeed and grow in whatever we put our minds to.
In other words, life is like a seed. If you look around, you will realise that there is nothing that was not created. Believe it or not, everything you see was first conceived as a seed.
The question you might be asking is if we all carry the seed of success why is it that only a few people are successful?
Well the biggest challenge with most of us is that we let the seed go to waste. We do not take good care of it.
You see for any seed to grow, it must be nurtured and nourished. This is the process that we do not want to undertake.
Nurturing and nourishing a seed takes a lot of effort and time, discipline, and is hard work.
Recently I started a small backyard garden. I have been growing plants from seeds. It has taken me close to 3 months to grow pepper, from seed to now almost harvest time.
I have not yet harvested it and anything could go wrong before then. So not until we have enjoyed the first harvest, we have not yet enjoyed the benefits of our labour.
So it is with life, it is like a tree. It starts as a seed and grows into a tree. Any seed has the potential to grow into a tree.
However, whether the seed will grow into a tree and produce good fruit or not will depend on the quality of the nutrients.
See for any seed to sprout and grow it needs dirt or better still soil otherwise if left open the sun will burn it.
Now soil contains nutrients that are necessary for the growth of the seed. I believe it takes a lot of energy for the small seed to push itself up from underground to the surface.
Better still it has to adapt to the different weather patterns and conditions to grow and start bearing good fruit.
Nurture and Nourish that Seed
Whatever it is that you want to do in life starts with planting a seed of it. If you want to be successful, you need to understand that it takes hard and smart work to achieve it. Plant the seed of success and begin to work on actualising it.
Look, “somewhere in the Kafue National Park every morning arises an Impala that realises that it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be eaten and die that day, in the same National Park arises a lion that realises that it must run faster than the fastest Impala or it will starve and die that day.”
The moral of the story is that no matter what you do in life you have to run.
No matter who you are you have to run. The running symbolises the work that you have to do on a daily basis.
If you’ve had the opportunity to watch national geographics and observed how both the Impala and the Lion run. You will realise that they do not just run in a straight line.
Life will throw things at you. It’s, therefore, important that you learn how to navigate through those obstacles.
Learning how to navigate through life is not the easiest of things to do. We are constantly learning and adapting to life everyday.
If you are not changing with time then, you are not improving and are most likely to remain behind. It could be the reason why you have stagnated in life.
The dirt or soil symbolises the foundation. This is the hardest part. Making the soil more fertile and conducive for the seed takes learning and discipline.
This helps you build character. Now that you have character with time and endurance you will have nurtured and nourished your ideas and will give birth to your plans or project.
Before you know it you will be reaping the fruits of your labour. The hardest part, however, is the nurturing and nourishing part.
Every good thing takes time. Most of us do not want to endure the soil. We do not want the dirt being thrown at us. We want to skip from seed to fruit.
Allow God to Be at the Centre of Your Plans
The Bible says “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” – Jeremiah 29.
Allowing God in my life has been huge for me. To me, it is clear that whatever plans we have before we implement them we must put them before God.
Ultimately the Lord knows what he has planned for us. It is, therefore, imperative that we conform to the plans of the Lord for our lives.
Allowing God to lead is just wonderful. Yes sometimes we miss it and get off target and yes sometimes things do not go as we want them.
The bigger picture is that God knows what is best for us. I am human just like you and sometimes I question God when things are not going as I expect them. But I have learned to let God to be God in my life.
The comforting thing is that God always makes a way where there seems to be no way. He has better plans for my life than I would ever know.
God is a teacher and accepts anyone as they are. The beauty of following God is that it is at your own free will. He will never force you to obey or follow him.
I have made mistakes and some of the things I have done am not proud of. But I know that he accepts me just the way I am and he can accept you just as you are if you call on him.
Conclusion
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” – Proverbs.
Do not let those plans; those seeds that you have, go to waste. You have a duty or rather a responsibility to ensure that you do not deprive the world of them.
Lastly, we should learn to give thanks and praise to the Lord because he gives us the opportunity to live and go on with our lives.