Where do you want to be?

We have heard it before…we reap what we sow. But, like many biblical truths we take them with a grain of salt as we figure life out our way, on our terms. Too bad because the truth not only leads us but it provides us with what we need for living the most productive, spiritual and God honoring life possible. Still, we plan and plot life according to what we understand to be best.

But, let’s go back, for a moment here, to a very key elemental thing spelled out for us in the Bible.

“Do not be deceived. God can not be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please the sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:7-9

We reap what we sow. We plant and what grows will reflect what we plant. Good seeds produce good fruit. Bad seeds, not so good. The same is true with the path we choose. If you walk a certain direction, you will end up at a certain destination. You can not walk one way and end up the opposite place…it’s as impossible as planting a tomatoe seed and ending up with corn.

I am currently reading a new book by Andy Stanley, The Principle of the Path. I really am enjoying it. It is no-nonsense truth and is challenging me to look at some of my chosen paths and where they have taken me. Here are a few of his practical examples:

• A single woman says, ” I want to meet and one day marry a gret Christian guy who’s really got his act together”…but then she dates whoever asks her out, as long as he’s cute.
• A husband says, ” I want my kids to respect me as they grow up”…and then he openly flirts with other women in the neighborhood.
• a man says, ” I want to grow old and invest the latter years of my life in my grandchildren”…but then he neglects his health.

You get the idea. We want something, but we don’t choose a path to get us there. We don’t plant the right seeds, so we reap what we sow. It is in the Bible, we need to pay attention rather than taking it with a grain of salt.

Andy says in his book,

“It breaks my heart how many people I speak with who don’t connect the dots between the choices they make and the outcome they experience. They’ve come to believe the popular notion that as long as their intentions are good, as long as their hearts are in the right place ( whatever that means), as long as they do their best and try their hardest, it doesn’t really matter which path they take. Tehy believe somehoiw they will end up ina good place.”

“But intentions are of little consequence. Direction is everything. Direction determines destination. This is why we cannot afford to live disconnected lives. We should break the habit of drawing a circle around individual decisions and events and dismissing them as isolated occurrences. These are steps. Steps that lead somewhere. Because life is connected. You can waste an entire season of your life choosing the wrong path, and it will cost you precious years.”

So it’s the path, or the seeds that we sow that takes us where we end up. It’s like wanting very badly to lose 20 lbs but dining at the donut shop! Not gonna get what we want that way!

Where are you going? What has God been placing in your heart? What direction do you think he is leading you in? Are you on a path to get you to the right destination. Think about this today. What path have you chosen, what direction are you heading and what seeds have you sown to get your the right harvest…..

What really matters is the DASH.

Some day my headstone will read:

Debra Marie Alsdorf

December 4, 1955—    my promotion to heaven date

When it comes to life on earth, in the meantime, it is the dash and how we spend it, invest it and live it that is important. The paths we choose and the seeds we sow, get us where we end up. How are you living the dash?

Living up! ( and praying I have the courage to be on the right path)

Debbie