Zucchini Taught Us About Sowing and Reaping
I’ll never forget the year of the zucchini. My mom went garden-crazy. She fell in love with the idea of getting our own food from the ground, both to save on the grocery budget and for our good health. I think she also just loved seeing us kids pulling weeds all summer long instead of sitting on the couch or hiding out in our rooms.
Her calculations may have been off during planting season that year, though. She must have scattered a million zucchini seeds, because that’s the only thing I remember eating for the rest of that year: grilled zucchini, fried zucchini, zucchini spaghetti, sautéed zucchini, zucchini bread, zucchini brownies, zucchini sandwiches. None of us ever wanted to see a zucchini again.
Maybe Paul’s family had a zucchini summer, too, because he loved using the metaphor of harvesting what you plant or “reaping what you sow.” The more good deeds and gifts of money to God’s servants and to the poor that you “plant,” the more abundant the harvest of goodness will be. God is able to bless you, too, in your giving (2 Corinthians 9:6-11). The more selfishness we plant in the way we spend our time, attention, and money, the more corruption and pain we will harvest in our lives (Galatians 6:6-10).
You can’t harvest what you don’t plant. What are you sowing this season? Reflect on the verses below as you think about that.
What Does God Say About Sowing Seeds? 5 Bible Verses About Sowing Seeds
Genesis 8:22
As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.
Genesis 26:12
Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him.
Luke 8:15
But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
2 Corinthians 9:6
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Galatians 6:7
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Join Us in Sowing Seeds for Christ
Want to help us sow some seeds for Christ around the world? That’s our mission. We work hard to help meet the needs of the extreme poor, and then we stand amazed as the Lord brings about a harvest of faith in the Lord and more believers ready and willing to sow seeds to meet the needs of their neighbors.
