Preparing for the next season
It has been a few weeks since my last blog entry. I have been on a serious quest for knowledge and deeper understanding lately. As a result, I have been reading several books at the same time and attempting to keep pace with all of them. I have been doing this multi-book reading for quite some time, but I believe that catalyst for this most recent “focused” quest started about 6 weeks ago as I began a fast, depriving my flesh of things that it likes and focusing on what I believe God is leading me toward as I attempt to focus more keenly on spiritual part of “me” rather than the physical counterpart of my being…
If I could put it very vaguely, I sense the winds of change. To help you understand where I am coming from I want you to take a second and think about the first day of spring, summer, fall, or winter…You know the day I am talking about, it is not always the first calendar day of that season, but there is a specific day when you walk outside and there is a smell on the wind that triggers a response inside of you confirming the beginning of a new season…I have coined this in my own vernacular as “sensing the winds of change”…I feel that I am at that place where I know that the winter is almost over and spring is so close that I can smell it on the wind…As a result, I have felt a sense of demand on myself to adequately prepare for this next season in what could be also paralleled as a spiritual “spring cleaning” or at least proportional organization of spirit, soul, and body…
Some of you probably just looked at that and thought, “this dude is one of those granola Christians, either a fruit/flake/or nut”! But if you think about it, whether you are spiritual or not, self examination and preparation for new season’s of life is wise. Weighing the importance of adequate preparation (if there is even a place of attaining a place of adequate preparation) has caused me to evaluate many things that needed to be corrected in me.
I believe that there are prerequisites in life that must be met in order for there to be advancement into the next season…it is understood that someone with no preparation, experience, or education in a certain field would not be able to adequately perform the functions necessary to be productive in that field. So when a company screens applicants to fill a position they look for the person who has properly prepared themselves for that place of employment by educating themselves and proving themselves to be a professional or at least trainable and disciplined enough to become productive in that particular field.
It’s no different from a Christian/Spiritual perspective…I have spoken with many people over the years who have held resentment toward others because of the advancement or perceived favor that has been shown them in an area that they themselves wished that they had experienced. What so many fail to see is the amount of dedication, time, and sacrifice that has been sown in order to reap the present harvest of promotion in that persons life…it would be likened to two farmers who owned equal land on adjacent farms, one farmer went out early in the spring and tilled the land, planted the seed, cultivated the seed and in the fall produced a great harvest, while the other farmer did not till, plant, or cultivate and as a result did not receive the same harvest. Both had the potential for the same harvest, but the farmer who actually took the time and set forth the effort for that harvest received according to how he had sown.
It would be absolutely ludicrous for the unproductive farmer to hold any resentment, frustration, or anger toward anyone but himself in that situation because he could have had the same results as the other farmer, if he had been willing to put forth the same effort.
The bible says that God is no respecter of persons. Yet it has also been my experience that Christians somehow think they deserve harvests in areas where they have not sown because they have seen others be fruitful in those areas. They would say things like, it’s just not fair that they have been blessed like that…when in fact, the truth is, if fairness is the issue, it would not be fair to the farmer who had sown so diligently for the other farmer to have reaped the same harvest with no effort put forth.
I believe that there are spiritual laws set forth that are as real as the laws of physics. One being, You reap what you sow! You would never plant a watermelon seed and pray to God that it produce a tomato plant. It is simply understood that Watermelon seeds produce watermelons…Likewise, it would be foolish to plant seeds of rebellion, hatred, or evil in life and expect to somehow experience spiritual blessing by praying that God bless you in spite of your undisciplined lifestyle…Yet I have had SO MANY come to me with these kinds of unrealistic expectations and prayer requests…
Now if a person planted watermelon seeds and decided that they did not want a watermelon harvest but a tomato harvest then there would be additional work necessary to uproot and kill the previous seed in order to plant the seed of the desired harvest. This is a viable option, but it takes more time and more effort than would have been originally set forth. There is a way that you can uproot the planted seeds of indiscipline in your life and start with a clean slate but do not be deceived, it will take work to turn your harvest around.
The bible says in Matthew 6:33 to seek first the “kingdom of God” (which can also be interpreted “Gods way of doing things”) and right standing with him and all other things will be added unto you.
It starts with a heart change or a place where you determine to surrender your old undisciplined lifestyle to God and seek his way of doing things…and this is where the work comes in…at this point you need to begin to figure out what it means to do things God’s way…It doesn’t mean you have to become some ultra RELIGIOUS FREAK an be someone you are not…God created you with your personality for a reason…He is just looking for a surrender of yourself to his will for your life.
Most Christians live a half surrendered life and want the benefits of being wholly surrendered…it just doesn’t work that way. I know in my own life there are areas which are being addressed even now as I write this blog…it is a continual process in life. You must daily look inward and analyze yourself. Most of the time, this analyzation reveals an area which needs to be addressed…When I am made aware of these areas, I do not beat myself up for not being perfect, I just do my best to address my imperfections with integrity and pray for strength to be what God has placed in me to be. Ultimately, I am surrendering that area of me to His work in my life.
Perhaps reading this today has caused you to “sense the winds of change” or at least sparked a desire for a “change of season” in your own life…Start today uprooting and surrendering the seeds of an unsurrendered life which have produced undesired harvests and plant new seeds of a life surrendered to the Lord. You don’t have to be perfect from this day forward, but if we start working on it today, we have less to do tomorrow and are moving forward in the life God has intended for us…
Feel free to contact me with any questions or follow-up on this blog…
thanks for reading
Aaron D. Davis
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