You know it’s that time of year when you open the windows early in the morning, you take in a cleansing breath, or go for an early morning walk, and the air smells different. There is a crispness in the air. The smell of soil seems to invade the senses.
Science says it depends upon the leaves that fall to the earth, that gives off the smell, or because it is the change in atmospheric conditions that causes them to be more clear. Whether it’s the combination of heat and humidity that traps the smell. Who knows. All we know for certain is that Fall is in the air. Even in Arizona. Our first hint of Fall was captured in the early morning hours of the first week of October, even though by noon, temperatures reached triple digits.
But when Fall arrives, what does that mean? It means the harvest is ready. Crops are planted in the spring, taking the time to grow during the summer, which yields the crop in the Fall. Often, we look at the natural for the results of the crop planted in the Spring to yield, hopefully, an abundant harvest.
But let’s consider ourselves for a moment. Are we ready to be harvested? Have we spent the majority of the year working to yield a better crop this year than last?
Each year, like clockwork, there is this annual thing that occurs. It’s what we call New Year’s Resolutions. January, goals are set with gumption. By February, if we’re diligent, we may have teetered on the prompt of initiating progress to achieve a result. By April, there is either a new habit that has been formed if the desire was strong enough and you are well on your way, or the resolution was laid down and fell on dead soil. It becomes one more for the books in a long list of things you just couldn’t get off the ground. But come October, if you were diligent and worked the earth and watered the seed that was planted at the beginning of the year, you have something to be proud of––a manifestation of something magnificent to look upon.
Your harvest is ready, and now you see the results. The saying is true, “You will reap what you have sown.” The choices that were made early on, will show up good or bad. Not only are you affected by the choice that was made, but others around you will be affected as well.
Let’s say, for example, I weigh two hundred and twenty pounds. I’m on the brink of heart disease, and I am pre-diabetic. I’m tired all the time, and I just don’t want to do anything if it is going to cause me to get off the couch and turn off the TV –even set my phone down. That’s a harsh example, but one that is seen more often than not. Then something amazing happens. Your daughter has a grandbaby. The world changes. You are now faced with a decision. You can get off the couch, get moving, and begin walking––maybe get a gym membership or try yoga and become more flexible––you know you will be crawling on the floor. You can decide to eat better, so you are putting live food into your body instead of the processed crap, whereby all the chemicals that are ingested break down your body. Why make these changes? It’s because of the baby. Now you feel you have something to live healthy for. You want to be the best grandparent for that baby. You want to give what you didn’t have. All those choices, reap a wonderful harvest that will affect generations to come. You may be a benefactor for those who have no labor in the harvest, but the reward is great.
Or, don’t. There is a harvest that is yielded as well. The child grows up without any connection from you. Your daughter chooses not to bring the child around because there is no joy in your life, and energy in your home is unwelcoming. The child doesn’t learn from an older generation values that can be passed on. The harvest that is reaped is a tall glass of lack of family structure, connection, pity, and so on. You become a recluse, gain more weight, are less active, and your health is hindered.
This is seen every day. We don’t realize it, but it happens on a subconscious level. We want the harvest without the sowing––a fast food result. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen that way. It’s a universal law. What comes up, must come down, and what is sown is reaped in due season. See, there is a season––a process or time in which it takes for the seed that is sown to develop.
As you enter into the Fall Season and look around, notice the leaves begin to fall and the air smells a little more crisp. Ask yourself, have you reaped what you sowed at the beginning of the year? Is there a positive progress that has been made or are you stagnate or the results aren’t in your favor? If that is the case, evaluate the seed that you sowed that brought you to where you are today.
Insanity is doing the same over and over and expecting a different result. Are you an insane person, then? If so, begin to choose a different path. If that is the case, look up and set your sights on something new, set a goal, and begin this next year planting a different seed. Water that seed by forming new habits, and this time next year, look back and see what you produced. I’m certain your harvest will be bountiful.
This was written by our contributing writer, Shannon Hrimnak.
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