Sowing, Tending & Harvesting OR Sometimes Moving On ...

**Note: Blogger is not cooperating with me today with regards to hard returns. For some reason, it won't publish my paragraph spacing or even allow me to begin a new sentence on another line. Sorry, for the lack of paragraphing. The other day while out watering the garden, my little EJ asked me why I was tending a garden we wouldn't get to eat from. I told him it was the right thing to do, because when the new prospective owner(s) made an offer on our house the garden had been planted and they were most likely expecting me to tend it until we leave. Yes, I said until we leave. Our house finally has a buyer and we are scheduled to close early next week. HooRay! After two years and four months of separation, we will finally move north where Mr.B works. In the meantime, that short conversation with EJ got me pondering. How many times do we fail to sow into God's kingdom because we aren't planning to be around or involved long enough to minister/disciple or reap a Kingdom's harvest? How often to do we abandon what we've sown because our life changes causing us to know that we won't be around to see or benefit from the harvest? Although we won't be here to reap the harvest from our garden, if the new owner(s) take up the tending where we leave off, they'll have enough produce to eat all summer and probably have some left over to give away. However, if I abandon the work I started before the new owner comes in and takes over everyone, including me, is robbed of a blessing. Likewise, when we fail to sow or tend into God's Kingdom simply because we know or suspect that we won't be around for the harvest, we are robbing God. I think we Christians should be mindful that often times we may only be sowers, other times we may come along and tend to what others have sown. And then there are times when we either take part in bringing in a harvest we didn't sow/tend or we move on and others bring in the harvest we prepared. In the end it is God whom we should be striving to please and glorify. Ministering for the Kingdom only when we ourselves benefit is an atempt to bring glory to ourselves, not God. Our family may not eat any of our garden's bounty this summer, but knowing that our work could benefit someone else is a huge blessing to me.