I walked behind my Dad in between the vegetable seed-beds behind our house. A massive umbrella acacia thorn tree overshadowed part of the garden. I was six years old. We lived at Ruzawi School near Marandellas town, in Southern Rhodesia. My Dad had just come home from work and now he was inspecting my work to see if I had carefully planted the vegetable seeds. This was the year 1954. The memories of WW2 were fresh on him. He was a naval officer, and the two ships he served on had been sunk. He survived both. He was my hero.
“Are you sure the lettuce are well spaced here Keir?” “Yes Dad, like you said”. “Good … and the carrot seeds not too crowded in the lines in this bed?” “Yes, and I did this bed too Dad”. We walked up and down both of us looking at the work I had done. I had to do this – it was my family duty to help, and it was part of our child-hood upbringing. Later on I fenced our small farm with barbed wire at the age of 16. I plowed my grandfathers fields for seasonal crops during school holidays, cleared lands of trees for pastures, with an axe and badza (hoe). I loved the challenges. A wholesome upbringing. T.V had just been invented so in the evening there was no entertainment – just exhaustion.
A week passed. The seedlings sprouted up in lines. Some of the lines were not that straight. I did not use a string to keep the lines straight when sowing the seed. I did not think it relevant or important. But my Dad … to him it was. “Come here Keir … sit down!” I sat in the dirt next to the glaring proof of taking shortcuts. The line of young carrots were definitely crooked. My Dad began to give a lecture of the pro’s and con’s of values in life. I loved the gentle yet very stern way in which he explained things to me, making sure I grasped the relevance. After all it is not about a lettuce or a carrot but about a principle. I was young and had time in front of me.
My Dad was making sure through practical functions in life the value of correct use of time. Put it this way; I was a seed-bed for him to sow correct values and disciplines of life into so the crop of man-hood would be fruitful. What I in turn allowed into my life would benefit my life. I maybe could not see it all now but trusted my Dad to be a Dad to me, and for me because he wanted the best in me.
One thing every person has on earth that is common to all is: time. Life is what you do with TIME. A tramp and a king have it. With the Covid-19 Pandemic, the world has one thing available more than ever before: time. Right now in the world every nation has ‘time’ more than they ever had. We are staying at home and when we have done all we can, we all still have time to do …. what? A fantastic opportunity to re-value, re-calibrate and assess life.
Ecclesiasties 11:4 VB “Those who watch and wait for favorable winds never plant, and those who watch and fret over every cloud never harvest”.
Eccl 11:6 “Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good”.
Hos 10:12 “Plant a crop of righteousness for yourselves, harvest the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your hard soil, because it’s time to seek the Eternal until He comes and waters your fields with justice.”
Gal 6:7 VB “Make no mistake: God can’t be mocked. What you give is what you get. What you sow, you harvest.”
Ja 3:18 “The seed that flowers into righteousness will always be planted in peace by those who embrace peace.”
I often encourage youth meetings by saying, “What you are living is proof of what you sowed into your life maybe 4 years ago. If you want to change your life change what you are sowing into it”.
Take time to sow the word of God into your life as He has eternity in His hand. “Our father, who is in heaven … thy kingdom come …” in your life, in everyone’s life.
This is a great time to sow a new crop into the time you have. This Easter period will be the most Historic in the event of man. The significance of the resurrection will be celebrated in homes, like Exod 12-13.
VB – The Voice Bible.