Reaping What You Sow

Yesterday was a hard day for me. Three college kids came as interns to our church. They spent the summer with our youth group. They played pranks, went to camps, came to pool parties and just hung out with our kids. They gave all that they had; their time and energy and their hearts to draw the kids to God, to each other and to the church community. While they came to learn, they taught us so much more. You forget as life goes on what it is to have goals and dreams and passion or zeal. They drew me in as an adult. Yesterday we had to say goodbye to them! This was the first picture of love with no strings attached.

The second picture of love with no strings attached is a contrasting picture of getting ready for college. The first picture is a mother and father, having a potluck to invite their son's friends and peers to their house to send their son away to college. My heart went out to the son's mom who had invested her life into her only child. She had spent her whole life preparing him to be the best he could be. She spent the day weeping, grieving that this will be the first that her son is out on His own. At the end of the day, he will be a successful engineer.

The contrasting picture is another son who will be off to college in a few days, unsure of what he will become. He has a parent who is unsupportive, telling the son that they are not sure if the son will ever be successful, that he has made mistakes in the past and is unable to overcome them. He has voices in his head telling him that he will not make it in life, voices that are completely false. This parent is sowing seeds of doubt, of conditional love, criticism and judgment. The son can rise above these voices and finish his education with our without the support but it will be by sure will and desire on his own part to be successful. How much easier it is though to accomplish his goals with his parent in his corner. This is a picture of love with many strings attached.

We all want people to take interest in who we are as individuals. We want people to believe in us inspiring us to be the best we can be. People will rise to the level of our expectations. If we invest nothing and expect nothing, we will gain nothing! If you look around, there are so many children and youth who just "come up". They have had little training or instruction in so many areas of their life whether it comes to relationships, manner or moral values. While we can't be everyone's parents, we are all surrounded by the life of another child that we can invest in. It takes very little effort to love someone else. It takes very little effort to give another a hug or a word of encouragement. It takes time and energy to listen and watch and learn but the rewards are endless. The rewards are many for investing in the life of others, they are eternal. Get involved, look around for those who have had no one to invest in their life. There are children and youth everywhere, they need someone to sow seeds of God's love into their souls. In the end, what are we reaping??? Souls are eternal!!! We can make a difference in where they go!