There is an ancient proverb that says, “Every year, the flowers look the same, but people don’t.” Everyone’s childhood is unique, as was mine. It was filled with crying and laughing, sadness and joy. When I look back on those days, there are many memorable things that impressed me a lot, and I’d like to tell you about one of them.

It happened when I was only 4 years old. My mother always told me this proverb: “Sow melons, and the harvest will be melons; sow beans, and the harvest will be beans.” This sentence germinated in my brain.

One summer vacation, I reached into my money jar and pulled out a very small, insignificant coin. I took the coin and buried it in a hole I had dug under the tree outside of our house. After covering it over with soil, I proceeded to water it whenever my grandpa watered the flowers. After a short while, I would go back home, waiting for the bumper crop to appear in the autumn, all the time fantasizing about becoming a millionaire.

Every day after school, the first thing I would do was to go and see my “gold seedlings,” and pour on another pot of water. One day, my mother asked me what I was doing, so I smiled at her and said: “It is my secret and you couldn’t possibly imagine what it is, but soon I will give you a big surprise” Mom reached out and touched my little head and laughed at my stupidity. Day and night, I waited for a miracle.

Autumn finally arrived, and it was time to get my harvest. I wanted to use the money to buy myself a lot of toys, some beautiful clothes for my mother, and a lot of gifts for the other people who lived in our home. I couldn’t wait to dig up the soil and find my heap of gold. When I dug down, I was surprised that I only found the same lonely coin that I had planted months before. However, I was not to be denied my treasure, so I continued to dig deeper only to discover that there were no other coins to be found. I cried all the way home and told my mother the truth.

I wanted an explanation, but she only began to laugh saying, “You foolish little girl. Don’t you remember the proverb, ‘Sow melons, and the harvest will be melons; sow beans, and the harvest will be beans.’ That proverb is about crops, not money!” I immediately realized how foolish I had been.

With age comes maturity, and looking back, I realize how foolish I was. But even this was such a memorable part of my colorful and happy childhood. Now I am a PhD student working on my research in Environmental Science, but that proverb and my mother’s wise words still influence me. It means, “As you sow, so will you reap.” Sow virtue, and the harvest will be virtue. Sow vice, and the harvest will be vice. This is just one of the memorable stories from my childhood, and I believe that my childhood anecdotes will become the most treasured memories in my life.

Additional Comments – I am grateful that my student realized that the proverb her mother taught her was not limited to crops, but has much to say about the kind of lives we choose to live. She uncovered some profound truths, and I am grateful that she has been applying them to her own life. Jesus had much to say about the harvest, 

Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but a bad tree bears bad fruit…..So then, you will know them by their fruits” (Mt. 7:16-20).

Jesus was addressing the religious leaders who were big on words, but their attitudes and actions told the story of inner corruption. What good is a tree if it does not bear good fruit? That fruit is the fruit of righteousness that comes from a life that is focused on pleasing to God.

The Apostle Paul also had some things to say about the harvest, warning all of us to not be easily deceived because, 

“God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Sprit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life (Gal. 6:7-8).

Simply put, we mock God if we think that we will not reap what we sow. It’s a basic principle of the harvest, a truth from which we cannot escape. If we sow to our own agenda and pleasures, we will reap the fruit of “corruption.” If anyone thinks that they will escape this principle of the harvest, they are badly mistaken, and in reality, “mocking God.” However, if we sow into our lives biblical truth and those things that matter to God, we will reap a rich, full, and meaningful life, one that lasts for eternity.

I encourage each of us to look at the fruit that is being produced from our life. Jesus asks, “If it isn’t good fruit, then what ‘good’ is it?” The fruit that pleases our Lord is the fruit that honors God and blesses others. He is looking for a full harvest of righteousness from our lives, and if we will open our hearts and minds and allow God to do His work in and through us, I have no doubt that we will discover a bumper crop in the making!