A planting does not mean a final harvest – but seeding always precedes harvest.
I have noted in my own life that “decades” are a regular rhythm.
A rhythm for change, a new harvest.
Every ten years or so I step out into something different. As a child the first decade saw me grow up in a community we call family. In the second decade I continued to develop a knowledge of and the use of language. As I headed into my twenties I got married and entered an initial ministry position. In my thirties I moved into administration in a seminary following a call to archives and research. In my forties my music ability took hold and I became a pastor of worship and music. In my fifties I headed back into a rural church that held much history for me – a solo thing with mentoring taking a strong role. In my sixties, after my first wife’s death, I remarried, retired and touched base with my multitude of interests and abilities.
Now I’m headed, in a year or so, into my 70’s. Already seed thoughts are arising. In some discussions I am exploring the thought of a wider presence than just with my neighbours and friends. I’m not sure what that means, and it scares me, but God seems to be putting seeds in my garden.
In a little different take on an old adage – you only reap when you sow. But as my farmer friends will tell me – know what is being sown so that you can rightly prepare for harvest.