“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”

- Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

My oldest son, Will, is almost six years old and he loves planting seeds. He thought the exercise they did at school where they planted the small seeds in the little cup was very cool. He’s carried that over into planting seeds in our back yard.

I’m not quite sure what age it is when we begin to forget about the seeds and become focused primarily on what is blooming above the surface. But over time, in our fast-food culture and instantaneous world of communication, it’s almost hard to imagine anything taking “that much time.”

So, in the “get things done” spaces in our lives, our longer-term vision gets blurred by the demand for instant results. We often find ourselves racing from place to place, meeting to meeting, deal to deal – seeking instant closure and gratification. We become impatient and look for the quick-fix solutions in our relationships, our careers, and our pursuits. We somehow get tricked into thinking we can bypass the growing process and jump right to the harvest.

However, what if we could ‘Step Back’, slow ourselves down today, and turn our attention from the harvest back to the seeds? What if we could focus intentionally on planting positive seeds in our relationships, our families, and our work? What if we could plant seeds and then shift our attention to nurturing and cultivating those particular seeds?

I’m not nearly the planter Will is, but I can’t help but think that purposeful approach may improve the overall quality of our harvest in the long run. So, what seeds will I choose to plant today along my path? What seeds will you plant along yours?

“I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.”

- John 15:16

Travel Gracefully.

Jason Barger, 11-Time Amor leader and creator of the “Step Back from the Baggage Claim” Movement