Even on the hard days, sow kindness

​I told someone the other day, some days I keep going because I'm on fire for where I'm going, and some days I keep going simply because I refuse to NOT keep going. Either way - I keep going.

The words in Psalm 126 promise us this commitment won't be in vain. The Psalmist tells us that even in our sorrow, even in our struggles, if we commit to keep pouring good into the world, joy is going to come our way.

And there's more. If we read the words closely, maybe the most important part of this promise is we're going to touch lives along the way in ways we never would have been able to without our hardship.

There is an old hymn based on this Psalm and it opens like this:

Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;
Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

You know, if we're going through a hard time, and we withdraw from the world, the world will give us a pass. They will understand.

But on the other hand, if in that hard time we continue to pour kindness into the world, the world will take notice. Because in some way, that is what we're all looking for. The secret to keep being good in the world when our world doesn't feel so good.

Maybe that's where the joy comes from the Psalmist writes about here. Maybe our hardship turns to joy when we see our hardship turn to joy in others. When we see our willingness to keep going help someone else keep going, when we stand back and watch the seeds we've planted begin to grow, well - maybe that's where those shouts of joy come from.

Maybe that's the motivation we really need some mornings. The reminder that I'm not in the world to feel good about the world, I'm in it to do everything I can to help someone else feel good about it. Someone who can't wait for me to be in the right mood to do it.

Some days are heavy. But maybe the secret to unloading the heaviness in our lives isn't waiting it out. Maybe the secret is going into the world and lightening someone else's load.

Maybe that's when we shall come rejoicing.

Bringing in the sheaves.