The Law of the Harvest

It looks like the weather is going to be staying warm signaling that Spring is finally here.  :-)  I've been wearing quite a bit of yellow lately... Must not be that excited!  ;-) 

So, in anticipation of spring we FINALLY got our planter boxes done and filled with dirt.  No plants as of yet, but I am eager to get it going and to watch the fruits of our labors (with a lot of finger crossing, of course!).  I also got some beautiful flowers to add more color to our yard. 

In light of gardening season I learned a new aspect of the Law of the Harvest this last week.  I've been studying in the Book of Mormon, Jacob 5 (aka The Allegory of the Olive Tree).  Usually when we think of the law of the harvest the phrase, "You Reap What You Sow" comes to mind.  Though true, I discovered  a new meaning.  "Let us prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it a little longer, that perhaps it may bring forth good fruit unto thee, that htou canst lay it up against the season (Jacob 5:27)." 

The Law of the Harvest requires that we wait.  We cannot force plants to grow.  We cannot force trees to produce fruit.  Likewise, we cannot force our children to walk, to read, or to feel the spirit.  Nor can we force our own weaknesses to become strengths in an instant.  We must nourish, prune, dig...and then wait...only to prune, dig and nourish some more!  Why?  Because "ye shall not clear away the bad thereof all at once, lest the roots thereof should be too strong for the graft...wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow, that the root adn the top may be equal in strength (5:65-66)."

And so we will plant our garden this year for the first time in awhile and we will diligently labor, waiting upon the law of the harvest to work it's own magic!