Freedom Focused: The Law of the Harvest

The Law of the Harvest, sometimes referred to as the Law of the Farm (Covey), is the subject of this week's article. A clear and certain understanding of this vital natural and universal law ranks among the most primal and important of all SAL lessons.

Three weeks before my 19th birthday, I got a job working for a dry wheat farmer in my hometown in Southeastern Utah. The term "dry" wheat is used to describe the wheat that farmers grow without the benefit of man-made watering (sprinkler or irrigation) systems. Dry wheat yields fewer bushels per acre than watered wheat, but remains a viable crop in arid areas of the country and world, including Southeastern Utah and Southwestern Colorado.

Shortly after graduating from high school, I worked on Spencer Frost's wheat farm for seven consecutive weeks in August and September 1998; my role was to assist him in bringing in the fall harvest.

My primary job was to drive the wheat truck. After Farmer Frost had filled up his harvesting combine with wheat, he would empty its contents into the dump truck. I would then drive the truck to the storage grain silos and pour the wheat into a grain auger which would then transport the harvested wheat up into a storage silo where it would remain until it was ready to be transported for sale later on.

Another of my jobs was to drive a tractor for the purpose of "weeding" (plowing) the fallow fields. "Fallow" refers to those fields left unplanted every other year to restore their nutrients. Lastly, I was called upon to walk through certain fields searching for stray rye stalks that had sprung up in the midst of the wheat. In this setting, the rye stalks were akin to the biblical "tares" that must be separated from the "wheat" in order to preserve the purity of the harvest.

I cherish the opportunity I had to work on Farmer Frost's wheat farm. In all of my life, I have experienced few things as enjoyable, satisfying, and peaceful as several of the various tasks I undertook amidst those expansive fields of rich soil and golden grain. I further cherish the many beautiful moments of stillness and solitude I enjoyed whilst in Farmer Frost's employ.

Working on that farm served to reinforce in my mind, heart, and spirit the Laws of the Harvest, or the Laws of the Farm, that I had been taught since my youth—and that I have continued to study, ponder, and internalize into my adult years.

The Good Book famously teaches that "whatsoever a [person] soweth, that shall he [or she] also reap."* That is the simplest articulation of the Law of the Harvest or Farm. But there is more to it than just that. This is just the beginning—and a mere encapsulation—of a deep and holistic principle. To better comprehend the full extent of the Law, there are at least three more essential components that must be taken into account. In addition to reaping what you sow, you also reap more than you sow, reap in a different season than you sow, and are saddled with a variety of short-term challenges that spring up as painful exceptions to the rule all along the way. Taken together, you must recognize and face-up to these additional components in order to better understand the full nature of the Law of the Harvest (or Farm).

Let's consider these elemental issues, one-by-one, beginning with their summary statement

You reap what you sow

This overriding summation of the Law of the Harvest/Farm is, in the aggregate, quite accurate over time. If you consistently sow goodness, positivity, productivity, and service, you will eventually reap a cornucopia of freedom, friendship, goodwill, happiness, and prosperity. If you consistently sow selfishness, error, and/or evil, you will eventually reap a whirlwind of bondage, negativity, loss, derision, and despair. Without consulting the "footnotes" it really is that simple in the long-run. However, as any studious, wise, and long-term thinking scholar-practitioner knows, some real gems of thought and action can be found in the footnotes.

So, what are the footnote PRINCIPLES of the Law of the Harvest/Farm?

Compound Interest

Principle 1: You reap more than you sow.

While a farmer (or you and me) technically reaps precisely what he or she sows in the short run, the principle of compound interest is always at play in the long-run. Your sowing and reaping may be equal on year one, but once you begin investing your resources, your reaping quotient begins to grow over time, and not just incrementally, but exponentially. That is the power of compound interest, and it applies to matters financial as well as social, emotional, spiritual, mental, physical, etc. Thus, as long as you respect and make use of the law of compound interest by virtue of your own diligence, consistency, and focus over time, you will begin to reap more than you sow on year two, three, four, etc.... forever into the future.

Principle 2: You reap in a different season than you sow.

If there were a "most important" footnote to the Law of the Harvest/Farm, it would probably be this one.

Why?

Because this is the footnote that teaches us the importance—nay, the indispensability—of both FAITH and PATIENCE. For without faith and patience, you would never take the seeming risk involved in sowing in the first place.

We live in a world where many people embrace a culture of immediate gratification and quick-fix approaches to achievement and problem solving. Sadly, this culture deeply erodes both faith and patience within individuals who embrace it. While you may still be able to survive and "get-by" with minimal faith or patience in your life or career, there is only ONE way to thrive—and that is to consistently exercise both faith and patience over long periods of time.

For starters, you must exercise the faith to sow in the first place. When a farmer first plants a seed, nothing appears for a while; and it is quite a while afterward before a seedling matures into harvestable flora. You must be willing to exercise the faith required to act in full recognition that you may not see the seedling—much less the full fruit—of your labors for quite some time.

Additionally, you must exercise patience. It takes time for a crop to sprout, grow, develop, and mature. A finished and polished plant cannot be harvested prematurely—no matter how badly the farmer wishes to do so. No amount of hard work, effort, positive thinking, praying, or even luck can alter the natural laws that govern the harvest.

That is just the way things are!

The principles of FAITH and PATIENCE can be even more important for non-farmers than for farmers. Why is this? Because results are often more predictable on the farm than they are off the farm. On the farm, things are pretty predictable as long as the farmer is in good health, his or her tools work properly, and the weather cooperates. Barring an unexpected disaster or other unforeseen variables of consequence, a farmer is usually assured to reap one season after he or she sows.

As challenging as life can be on the farm, it can sometimes be even more difficult off the farm. In some cases, it may take many seasons, or even years, decades, or centuries before a person (or group) reaps the rewards of his, her, (their), or someone else's collective sowing.

For example, consider how many years abolitionists had to sow long and hard before they were able to reap the rewards of the end of legalized slavery in Western Countries? And what about all those men and women of great talent and effort whose work was not recognized or rewarded until long after they had died? This phenomenon seems to especially affect artists and writers, and includes the following list of esteemed men and women from the past: Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau, Vincent Van Gogh, Galileo, Vivian Maier, and John Keats—to name just a few.

An especially prominent member of this group—the gifted Dutch painter, Van Gogh—produced more than two thousand paintings before his death by suicide at age 37. Plagued by poverty, depression, and other mental illness throughout his life, Van Gogh was never commercially successful or widely recognized in his lifetime. But the artwork he sowed eventually reaped worldwide acclaim and financial success in the range of $US billions with a 'B.'

Whether on a real FARM or in our lives or
careers, we all have to deal with hailstorms.
Principle 3. In the short-run, there are always exceptions to the rule.

In a single season, or even in a series of several years, devastating setbacks, disappointments, and even tragedies can occur. Whether it is a hailstorm on a wheat field or an unfortunate/unfair situation or circumstance in one's personal life or career, things are rarely FAIR in the short-run.

Whenever your temporary circumstances are less-than-ideal, you must reengage your faith and patience in a way that enables you to effectively "Discipline your Disappointment" (Jim Rohn). In other words, you must not let your disappointment in the moment influence a deviation from the appointed pathway provided by your hope in the ultimate harvest. Disciplining your disappointment is not an easy or pleasant experience. I know because I've had to do my share throughout my life and career. It requires enormous will, focus, and emotional intelligence. And no matter who you are or how talented you may be, there will be MANY occasions throughout your life and career that will be saliently, poignantly, and painfully marked by deep disappointment, frustration, and/or discouragement. But dedicating yourself to "Disciplining your Disappointment" is the only viable alternative if you seek to remain safely on the tracks that lead to your ultimate potential harvest.

Everything that you think about, say, and do carries a concomitant consequence. In the words of Sir Isaac Newton: To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Some consequences come immediately; others come later on down the road a ways. Some consequences are triggered by unfair events that strike you down in the present; others are like handsome payments of compound interest that raise you up years into the future.

Some reap poorly and sow greatly in the short-run. Others sow greatly and reap poorly in the short-run. But in the long-run, everyone reaps more-or-less precisely as they sow. In the end, no one can cheat the Laws of Nature, including the Law of the Harvest/Farm, because Universal Laws are no respecter of persons. They operate independently of any and all human will or desires. We can learn about, acknowledge, and choose to align our thoughts, speech, and behavior with their irrevocable and omnipotent edicts, or we can choose to ignore, disregard, and flout them. But in the end, the results will be what they will be, and they will be more-or-less mathematical in their just precision—based largely on your own choices.

The ultimate question in each of our lives is not: "will my life reflect the natural laws of the harvest?" The answer to that question is always (and for everyone) "YES!" The ultimate questions are: "what pathway will you choose?" and "are you willing to do whatever it takes and pay whatever price the Laws demand in order to stay on the pathway that leads to your own desired and hoped-for ultimate destination?" and "Are you willing to "Discipline your Disappointment" all along the way?"

The CHOICE is YOURS.

Choose Courageously, Purposefully, and Wisely!

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Freedom Focused

Wednesday, March 17, 2021