I was not meant to plant, water, and harvest every seed. For most I must plant, for some I will water, and for a few I will harvest.

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For the month of February I am leaning on God to help me not spend money unnecessarily. In January, He helped me see that I spend a lot of money on things that not only hurt my financial goals, but also pull me away from Him. The first few days of this month were DIFFICULT! Everyday I wanted to buy something that I could have sworn I needed, but it turns out, everything was a fleeting want. Truthfully, I have saved so much money in credit card interest by not spending money, whether I have it or not, and this has caused me to be intentional about where my money goes. (Read Matthew 6:21.) I am humbled by this time and truly praising God for this opportunity.

So when Ash Wednesday rolled around this past Wednesday, I prayed and asked God to stretch me even more. As such, He placed me not only on a spending diet, but also a time diet, where God has me saying NO to anything that will require my time beyond what I am already committed to doing. Turns out, that’s harder to do than not spending money. Declining additional, yet optional work opportunities; turning down social engagements; and not volunteering for something beautifully random that will undoubtedly consume much of my time is HARD! I love being in the mix and God has given me a spirit to serve… yet my desire to take on more than He has given me to bear has depleted my energy and left me worn beyond repair. This time diet has also caused me to pause and seek God’s direction in every area of my life, seeing if my will aligns with His.

Yet this weekend God humbled me even more, Beloved. He helped me to see that He has not called me to do everything, even though He has called me to serve. (Read that again. God has called us to serve Him, yet that does not mean that we alone have to do EVERYTHING.)

Often I must plant a seed.
Sometimes I must water seeds already planted by someone else.
And every now and then, I must harvest what others have planted and watered.
But He has not called me to do all of that for the same seed.

Since we are here, let’s take a quick look at horticulture (an area I know very little about…. shout out to my sources, God and Google). For some seeds, there is a 1-2 week germination process. Included in this category would be beans sunflowers, to name a few. For some other seeds like mango and parsley, there can be a 2-4 week germination process. Yet and still for others, germination could take over two months to happen. And if you are a newbie like me, let me say that “germination” is the beginning process for crops. This means that at a minimum, when something is planted, it takes at least 1-2 weeks before something starts happening in the areas that we CANNOT see… so imagine how long it takes for us to actually SEE results from the seed that we plant.

Sweet friend, God needed me to realize that in every area of my life, I will not be given the opportunity to plant a seed and watch it reach its fullest potential. He needed me to see that I would be one of three people: the person who begins it, the person who continues it, or the person who completes it. For if I spend all of my life trying to fulfill all three roles, I would have only accomplished one thing, when there is so much work that He has called me to do.

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Going forward, I am changing my prayers a bit. Yes, I would still like God to give me strength for the journey, but I also want Him to give me peace in my role.

Lord, if I must plant, let me dig deep and drop this seed in fertile soil.
Lord, if I must water, pour into me abundantly so that in the overflow, others are watered sufficiently.
Lord, if I must harvest, may the fruit of this harvest be nourishment to many and may they grow in You.

I cannot do everything- rest and delegation of duties are necessary- but that which I can do, I do out of love and unto the Lord.

Beloved, plant, water, and harvest… and all in due season.

Be blessed.