There’s this story written by BurgerPatty04 of wattpad.com website: “A little boy got angry with his mother and shouted at her, ‘I hate you, hate you!’ Because of fear of reprimand, he ran out of the house. He went up to the valley and shouted, ‘I hate you, I hate you!’ – and back came an echo, ‘I hate you, I hate you.’
“This was the first time in his life that the boy heard an echo. He got scared and went to his mother for protection, and said there was a bad boy in the valley who shouted, ‘I hate you, I hate you!’ The mother understood and she asked her son to go back and shout, ‘I love you, I love you!’
“The little boy went out and shouted, ‘I love you, I love you!’ and back came an echo. That taught the little boy a lesson that life is like an echo. We get back what we give.”
The message of the story clearly illustrates the Golden Rule – “What you sow is what you reap.” I am reminded of a mother who never took care of her children when they were growing up. She was busy with her social life and placed the care of her children on the “yaya.” Now that the children are all grown up, they don’t take care of their mother who is now in her sunset years.
I also know of a mother who took care of her children and did a lot of sacrifices to let them fin-ish their schooling. She had to borrow money from the bank for the tuition of her three children. She sold goodies part-time so as to augment her income. Her children are all professionals now and are working abroad. Every month she and her husband receive monthly allotment from their children, aside from the brand new car that the children bought for them.
Charles F. Stanley, at www.intouch.org, cites certain life principles of sowing and reaping:
• Today is the father of tomorrow. What we are today is the result of what we have been think-ing and the way we have lived in the past. Those who act wisely today will have wisdom in the future. The same is true when it comes to finances. Those who save wisely today will have plenty tomorrow. Those who spend everything they have today will have little or nothing in the future. It is a short sighted person who thinks only of now.
• We reap what we sow. The fact that we reap what we sow is good news for those who sow good habits, but a frightening thought for those currently involved in ungodly activities such as promiscuity, drug and alcohol abuse, neglect of family, or mistreatment of others in order to climb the ladder of success. We cannot sow crabgrass and expect to reap pineapples. We cannot sow disobedience to God and expect to reap His blessings. What we sow, we reap. Let us not deceive ourselves. What we sow is what we reap in our lives.
• We reap more than we sow. A single seed that sprouts can yield dozens, scores, even hundreds of seeds. It is the same with sin and righteousness – a small decision to do good or bad reaps a much bigger crop, for either joy or sorrow.