What Spring there has been so far in my part of the country can be defined by one word: Wet.
As little as a couple of weeks ago, there were many reports on television and newspapers that farmers were “way behind” in their efforts to plant a crop. Now, the stories are on how planting has “progressed rapidly.”
In part because…who works harder to get the job done than a farmer?
The time window is relatively short…could you imagine a farmer saying, “We will have to plant in July; our order for Spring is currently on backlog!”…and the production agriculture professional understands very well that if you fail to put the seed in the ground in the Spring, you will have no crop in the Fall.
At a program where I was speaking several years ago, another keynote was from professional speaker Michael WIckett. I’ll never forget the powerful illustration he used. Holding up a small bag of tomato seeds, he asked the audience if we planted these, what could we expect to grow? “Tomatoes!” the audience replied.
He then held up a small bag of seeds for green beans. “And, what would sprout from these?” Naturally, the crowd shouted, “Green beans!”
“Is there ANY chance,” Wickett continued, “if I plant tomato seeds, that green beans will grow instead?” All of us in his audience shook our heads. Of course not.
“So,” he asked, “what seeds have YOU planted?“
Wow. Powerful point.
If you plant the seeds of caring for customers and enhancing relationships — guess what kind of crop you’re going to reap? If you plant the seeds of blame, an attitude of scarcity, and a mentality that you are just there to hit it one more day — guess what kind of crop you’re going to reap?
My farmer friends in Indiana and around the world know that the old line is often misunderstood. You do not reap what you sow…as in the “amount.” If you did, then you would plant one seed — and reap one. THAT’S “reaping what you sow,” from the perspective of volume.
Instead, you reap exponentially MORE than you sow. The seeds planted in the Spring become an enormous bounty in the Fall.
However, you do reap the KIND that you sow. Plant corn seeds…gather a corn crop.
Same is true for us…we will harvest what we plant…exponentially.
What seeds have YOU planted?
Why I don’t want a “bucket list”
On bucketlist.org, for example, there are 10,000 recommendations of things to do before you die…and it contains everything from visiting the Louvre (which I’ve done and want to do again) to eating at Del Taco for thirty straight days (which I have no desire to achieve)!
From my perspective, the life well lived is not one about collecting and holding — it’s about growing and sharing. To merely gather experiences to be placed in the bucket to contain doesn’t help anyone except the owner of the pail.
Don’t get me wrong — there are LOTS of activities I want to take part in before I depart this earthly existence. However, I want to share those in person with my close family and friends — and communicate in a variety of ways with others in hope it will provide insight or motivation for them to do something distinctive and memorable.
A pitcher, unlike a bucket, is generally used for both obtaining and storing — AND sharing and pouring. It would make us consider that not only should we push ourselves to do what we dream, but we should also require ourselves to be disciplined enough to share what we’ve learned and done with others…so they might be similarly inspired.
Don’t fill up your bucket with items from the list and keep it to yourself…rather, load up your pitcher and then pour out the benefit of your actions to nourish the seeds of inspiration you may plant.
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