It was good to get together at our last breakfast/brunch of the year on Friday morning the 21st November at the Riviera Hotel, Velddrif. A very nice venue and good food, made enjoyable by the lovely company of all the ladies. Thank you to all those who participated in making it a joyous occasion, from just being there, the place name tags and the gifts for everyone!
Marian (and Johan, her husband) returned to South Africa from spending a few month's in Canada at Prince Edward Island with her son and his wife at the blue berry farm. She shared some precious thoughts with us.
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The ladies' breakfast we had, the theme was reflections—to think back about what God did in our lives. When I heard the word reflection, I immediately saw the beautiful reflections of the autumn trees on the dam on this big farm. The trees are yellow, pink, red, and orange. It was the most beautiful sight I saw. And God really talked to me a lot about the seasons in our lives.
Springtime with its lovely flowers and green, and new beginnings. But it all starts with the seed we sow. The Lord showed me three principles and three things where you can sow the wrong seed that can influence the rest of your life.
The first one is about Ephesians 6:2, which says to honour your mother and father. And God talked to me about that because I realized I didn’t honour my parents. I was angry at God for taking my mother so early. I was bitter toward my father because he was so strict and without love. And I became the same as him—I became the same angry person until the Lord showed me.
The next seed we can sow is from Galatians 6:7: 'What you sow, you will reap.' Whether it’s blessings or destruction, unforgiveness or hate, according to the seeds that we sow, we will reap either blessings or destruction. The third seed that we sow is from Matthew 7:1: 'With the same measure you judge, you will be judged.' And God showed me how I judged my father because he was so loveless and such a strict parent, and I ended up becoming the same as him. It was also out of his pain that he was like that. But the thing is, if we sow seeds, we will be judged by the same measure. The only way to turn our next harvest into something beautiful is by forgiveness—by forgiving every judgment we’ve made, every hate we’ve carried, and forgiving the people who have hurt us.
And then comes autumn, a truly beautiful season with stunning trees and colorful leaves. That is the time of harvest—the time to pick the fruit of the seeds you have grown. It was so lovely to see, after all the toil and hard work during the summer, how the fruit was in abundance on the little bushes. And by God's grace, it was a record harvest under the management of my son. It was amazing to witness the fruit of your heart and strenuous labor.
And then the next season is winter. After the big harvest and all the fruit, everything becomes quiet, and the leaves die off. They say winter is the season when the cold kills all the pests and plagues, which is so interesting. It’s also a season when we die to ourselves—a time of quietness and coldness, where we feel as if we are dying. But it’s in the winter that the roots grow deep, and God works in a deep way within us, preparing us to grow back stronger again.
So it is good to reflect on what is going on in our lives. What seeds are we sowing? Are we forgiving other people? And are we sowing seeds of love and encouragement?
