What we cultivate is what we’ll give to those around us.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

One of the things I love about my church is that we normally study the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse. I like this because it keeps personal opinions to a minimum and uses God’s own words as the interpreter of the book He wrote. Right now we are in the book of Luke in the sixth chapter. During the service Pastor Bob made this point, “You can’t give what you ain’t got.” While the statement is worded humorously the sentiment is very serious. If you don’t have it you can’t give it. If you don’t have time you can’t give time. If you don’t have love, you can’t give love. If you don’t have forgiveness, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, you can’t give them to those that need it. As I sat listening to my pastor I started to wonder about the things I have been cultivating in my life. Am I storing up crops that will bless those around me, or is my store house empty? We too easily share anger, pain, hurt, violence and lies. Why? Well it’s what we have and we can, (as previously stated) only give from what we have. So today my question to all who read this post is: What are you cultivating? Is it love or hate? Joy or sadness? What we grow is what we’ll give away. So grow in love, faith, joy, peace, understanding, tolerance and grace. It will be what you give to those around you.

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive” (2 Peter 1:5-8).

So what am I thankful for today? Cultivating good “crops” 🙂 .