I spent a lot of yesterday in prayer. I regularly, most of the time, drive in silence. My commutes alone have become a great place fo me to be alone with my thoughts and with God, that and the shower. Yesterday I really felt as though I needed that time to be with God. Somethings had been bothering me with school and the way that I relate to colleagues. So of course I took it to my Creator.
I was actually driving to school in the morning and God told me quite few things that I am unpacking but the nugget that is still resounding in me is to, “til your own ground.” God was telling me that I though about the work that I do in the wrong way. To consider myself a “hustler” and to be about the “hustle” is a mindset of lack. It breeds within us that we are responsible for our success, our big moves, and this mindset of “independence” when, really, we have to think about work like a farmer.
The idea of sowing and reaping is usually postured as you sow a seed and then you get a harvest but that is sort of an oversimplified telling of the process of growing a crop. You don’t merely dig a hole, throw some seeds in it, and poof in a month or two you have an amazing plant return that you just pull up. If you have a garden or any kind or a farm, you have to til the ground. You have to prepare it, test it, take care of it in order to be able for it to be able to accommodate your seeds. You also have to plant your seed in their place so they have room to grow. The ground has to be watered regularly and the crop must be pruned and deweeded, and you watch out for critters that may eat the crop. This is a word alone! You have to watch out for critters trying to devour your dream before it is fully grown
When the harvest is ready, reaping is not easy work. You must pick and gather carefully. You don’t want to disturb the roots because they can yelled the next seasons crops. You have to only pick the good crop, discard the rotten, and leave the unripened pieces so that they can still grow. It gives the verse in Ecclesiastes, “To everything there is a season… a time to sow, and a time to reap,” a really different meaning.
Instead of hustling I need to be tending to my own garden. The thing that you have been told to do, your dream, your goal, should be your focus. You put your energy there. You are not worried about if it will rain enough or too much, you don’t worry if you have enough seeds or land to put the seeds. You take what you’ve been given and tend to it with attention to detail, love, and care knowing that there will be a crop. Usually the first one may be small but every season is different. Practically, this looks like taking those talents and growing them, investing in yourself. For me that is investing in the film equipment and taking the time to hone my craft. Putting myself out there with the expectation that, “in due season,” I will see my gift return to me what I have put out in my garden.
Love and Light,
~S
Shardé Searches 