The late spring sun beat down on the Alabama clay. The hum of the tractor motor vibrated everything around as it rolled across the field. The clanking of the steel plates cut through the air as the disc bumped through the hard ground. It was planting season. It was hot. It was physically draining, but it was critical.
Every farmer understands this rhythm. Their lively-hood depends on it. You have to put in the work to realize the harvest. Every farmer knows that in order to see the results they desire it requires many hours of work long before the payoff. They have the perspective of being able to look beyond the now and ahead to future. This is where their resolve comes from.
They abide by the principle in nature that you can never reap what you do not sow. It is a simple yet powerful truth. If you aren’t willing to put in the work on the front end, you’ll never get to the result you need. While this may seem elementary, most of us operate on the contrary in our daily lives.
This principle of sowing and reaping is critical to the outdoorsman. Most of us immediately shift our mindset to dreaming about “next year” as soon as the season ends. We spend our summer planning and dreaming about how things will be different next season. If you’re fortunate enough to have a piece of property, you likely spend your time planning how you’re going to plant crops that will feed, nourish, and attract the targets of your passion and pursuit.
For most of us, however, this is as far as we get. We simply dream about what could be. When we get back around to hunting season we live out the same scenarios year after year….
“If only I had put in more work to get the property ready…”
“If only I had planted that field differently…”
“If only, if only, if only….”
We know and understand the principle of sowing and reaping. We know that to get what we want we need to put in the work, but most of us just never seem to make it happen. We’re left with a season that leaves something to be desired and list of “if only’s”.
This is our journey in life as well. It’s really no different than the farmer or the outdoorsman. On the surface it may not look the same. Most of us aren’t farming for a living. Our families lively-hood doesn’t depend on how well we work the dirt. Or does it?
Your lively-hood absolutely depends on how much you’re willing to sacrifice. It absolutely depends on how hard you’re willing to work, even if it doesn’t seem like it’s worth it. The question is: Can you keep walking even when it feels like it isn’t working?
There is a lie that we are all being baited into believing and we have to kill it. The world has told you that if something is difficult it isn’t worth it. The culture has fooled us into believing that if the road is hard it must not be the right one. This is one of the greatest lies the devil ever told you.
I believe the resistance that is against you is an indicator of the potential greatness inside of you. The pressure around you can either kill you, or transform you. The choice is yours. You get to decide each day whether or not you will turn pressure into power or into pain.
I may not know what dream you are chasing, but I know you have one. God buried a dream inside each man. Men were made to fight. There’s something inside your soul that is burning. You know there’s more. You can feel it.
Whether you’re a farmer, an outdoorsman, an executive, a father, or a husband, the “more” you are chasing will not come without hard work. No harvest is ever gained without hard work.
My question for you this week is are you willing to put in the hard work now for a harvest later? Are you willing to keep working even when it feels like it isn’t worth it?
The reason the farmer can labor through the Summer heat is because year after year he sees the harvest in the Fall. Where in your life have you seen a harvest because of your hard work? Use that experience to motivate you now in the planting season of your life.
What dream are you chasing?
What is it going to take to achieve it?
Are you willing to put in the work now for the payoff later?
Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s not working. Be encouraged. If you put in the effort and sow the seed of hard work, just like the diligent farmer, you WILL realize a harvest of a life of significance and impact.
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