Life Training - Life Is a Garden… You Reap What You Sow

Before anything else let me start off with what Robert Louis Stevenson once said, “Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. It’s another way to Coach Life.

  For Life Business, there are laws!  As a matter of fact there are certain immutable laws. These laws are constant and will not change. They have stood the test of time; they have existed ever since the dawning of time. Most reassuring as there is day and night and as surely as there is good and evil, there is seedtime and bountiful harvest. This has always has been and always will be. It is the constant nature of things.  For a fact, it is indispensable to the cycle of life. Without seedtime and yield there would be no reproduction. These are basic fundamentals in order for continuous existence of life! Most of us are unaware of the implications of how these vital aspects correlate with us. Let us allocate a brief moment of our time to give thorough introspection on these points and how they affect us and our family.

 Seedtime and Harvest ... How does this affect my life?

              In layman’s terms, you reap what you sow! When you plant bananas you reap bananas. When you plant apples you reap apples. Most of us accept this as a self evident truism. Why does it seem so far fetched then, to accept the fact that when you sow discord you’ll reap discord in your life? People, who sow strife, reap strife.  People, who sow joy, reap joy! What you plant into other people's lives will someday, somehow be reaped in your own life. You are what you are today because of seeds you’ve sown in the past. You have what you have today, because of the decisions you have chosen previously. Today is the harvest of yesterday's seeds! This is evident since our primordial beginnings... archaic as it may seem, can you dig it? You reap what you sow!  Coach Life this philosophy.

 Seedtime and Harvest… How does this affect me and my family?

              It affects us in more ways than you can ever imagine. The humble beginnings of your family are reflected through the values instilled in your children. How you raise them up to adolescence will reflect your convictions and philosophical views as a parent. Are you planting time? What about belief? How about reliability? What do they hear at the movie when you are asked about their age? Do you somehow justify a “little white lie”? In my experience, the “little white lies” usually turn into “double feature Technicolor”! Would you compromise their future? Not a good Life Business to do white lies indeed. 

              If you want champions for children then you need to be planting the seeds of greatness. Plant love and Reap love! Plant big dreams and ambition you’ll reap a President or a missionary, or a giant of the industry! What are you planting into your wife ... or your husband? Is it benevolence, absolution, gratefulness? Their hearts and minds are a cauldron where you brew either greatness or mediocrity. What are you reaping? The cause of effect of your decisions will either haunt you or eulogize you in the end.  Provide your kids a great Life Training. 

             We need to notice every time we open our mouth to speak to our spouse. Will this edify or build them up, or will it heave them down? You see, there are no useless words. They either exalt or curse. They either uplift or devastate! We have two ears ... and one tongue. Maybe we should listen twofold and speak once. Out of necessity it is time we start contemplating on our actions to the ones we love.

            How does Seedtime and Harvest affect your Enterprise?

             Our demeanor on how we conduct our business with our people directly shows who we are. Are we a shrewd opportunistic money hungry capitalist or a benevolent philanthropist? These same laws apply. When you bring someone into your business, do you just wind them up, send them out and hope they make it? You need to invest on their training and education to properly augment their skills to further even the odds for success. Otherwise they will be overburdened with the tasks due to their ineptitude.  You have to make it a point to invest on the growth and development of your people as well as their well being. It’s been said that there are no bad students ... just bad mentors. A grand teacher takes it very personally when one of his students falter. He contemplates on his shortcomings and sees to it that he will be able to rectify the dilemma and find an alternative way! This approach would revolutionize most people's lives

              Plant your talents and gifts into the lives of other people.  Make sure they succeed.  If they succeed, you will! Because you reap what you sow, it should be firmly established in your heart by now that if you’ll adjust your thinking from “what’s in it for me” to “what can I do to help”, you will succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Seedtime and Harvest! Work on having this as Personal Mission.

 I once read a story about a young boy who had heard some juicy gossip about one of the leaders in his small town.  And it was just that.  “Juicy Gossip!”     And, of course, he told a few people, who told a few people, and so on and so on.  The object of the gossip had his reputation ruined.  What’s Your Worth? Is your Life Business just a gossip? 

             The young boy’s father confronted him.  He told him to go to everybody that he had spoken to and recant the story. And, he had to go to everybody they spoke to, etc., etc.  The young boy told his father that there was no way that he could get to everybody.  The father was emphatic.  You can’t miss a one.  The young boy could not grasp the enormity of the situation.  He told people, who told people, who told people, and there were probably hundreds of people involved now.  Surely, he would miss some of them.  The father took his son along with an old feather pillow to the top of a local mountain.  He had the boy split the pillow with his knife and throw the feathers into the wind.  They blew every which way.  Some of them caught breezes and blew for miles and miles.  The father then told his son to go pick up all the feathers.  Finally, the lad understood.  It was impossible!  He understood that no matter how many people he recanted his story to, there would be those he would miss ... And they would tell people... who would tell people ... who would tell people!

            We live in a day when lives, families and businesses are destroyed by gossip, innuendo and partial truths.  These tales seem to take on a life of their own and grow in their destructiveness. This is not the Life Course we want.

 This law is immutable. If you are prejudice to others, you will be prejudged.  If you become a tale bearer then tales will be told on your behalf.  Let your reputation precede you through your acts of kindness and see the rewards of glory or infamy.

 Illustrious people sow great thing and reap a bountiful harvest of a lifetime of greatness! Life is a garden; sow the seeds for a brighter tomorrow.  Our Life Course should be this way.