It's spring time. Sometimes the weather looks and feels like spring and at other times it feels like we have returned to winter because it is chilly and the snow is not far away. Soon however, whether we see it or not, wheat plants will begin to grow in the earth. They were planted last fall by farmers not long before the snow began. That's a pretty strange time to plant wheat isn't it? Won't the seed freeze over the winter and die? Amazingly, the answer is no. In fact, wheat seed that is planted in the fall and left dormant in the ground through the winter snow, grows in the spring and is harvested in summer has actually a higher yield than seed that is planted in spring and harvested in fall. In 2012 in Canada it had a 31.7% higher yield.
In Step 12 we are encouraged to "carry this message to others". Anyone who's been around recovering alcoholics and addicts for long knows that there are long periods of time in a person's life when it seems like they are "not hearing" that message. It's particularly difficult when someone has been in recovery for a while and then relapses. It seems like "all is lost." But God's promise is that if we plant good seed we will gather a harvest.
We cried on the way to plant our seeds, but we will celebrate and shout as we bring in the crops. (Psalm 126:6 CEV)
Winter wheat can remind us of God's promise to us that anything of His word that we share with others will not be wasted and it will bring a harvest at the right time.
Rain and snow fall from the sky. But they don’t return without watering the earth that produces seeds to plant and grain to eat. That’s how it is with my words. They don’t return to me without doing everything I send them to do. (Isaiah 55:10-11 CEV)
Jesus reminds us that if we keep on planting seeds we will reap a harvest.
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9 ESV)
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