When is the Best Time for Planting?

I have only dabbled in gardening over my lifetime. I basically know enough to be dangerous. Somehow the next generation in my family are all master gardeners, but I still linger on the other end of the spectrum. (It must be the ‘skipping a generation’ principle at work.) But even I know there is a time to plant and a time to harvest (as Ecclesiastes chapter 3 tells us). So, the question for this post is “when is the best time for planting?” You’re probably already catching on to the fact that I’m not going to talk about vegetables here.

This is on my mind because Paul and I had a very productive video chat this afternoon with a young man the age of my own kids. Our conversation turned into a discussion about those times in our lives when we’re in-between. Do you know what in-between times feel like? Something is changing. The regular feels uncertain. There is a fundamental shift in life coming, but it’s unclear when or how it will present. I’m just going to say right now — THAT is the best time for planting!

Paul and I have had plenty of in-between times throughout our years, but one in particular comes to mind. We were still living in the Pacific Northwest but we just knew in our spirits that things were changing, a shift was coming, but we didn’t know when or how. We were eager for ministry, but the opportunities for ministry didn’t seem to be leaping out in front of us. So, it seemed like a good time for planting.

We had spare time — because in-between times often have an abundance of spare time. So we connected with some friends who were planting a church and asked if they needed any help. Within weeks we were leading worship every Sunday, Paul was teaching every-other Sunday, and we were leading their small youth group once a week. That was a lot of planting!

Within a year of that in-between season, we had moved, started our own fellowship in Ontario, and the Lord began to graciously show us how all of those seeds, sown in someone else’s garden, were already bringing a harvest. The concept we learned was ‘sowing seeds of faithfulness’.

That is a biblical principle. Galatians chapter six gives us some real insights into sowing and reaping. For example, verse 7 says, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” And v.9-10 cheer us on to sow those seeds: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

That is the principle — sow seeds of faithfulness and God will bring a harvest of blessing!

So, I just want to encourage those who are in-between to take this opportunity for sowing seeds to heart. Are you between relationships? Are you between contracts? Are you between jobs? Are you between educational levels? If you are living in a phase of uncertainty, if you can smell change in the wind but can’t yet detect when or how that change will happen, this is your time for planting. Don’t waste the opportunity! Look around. Find someone who can benefit from your time, your skills, your experience. What seeds do you have that need to be planted in someone else’s garden? If it’s not obvious, ask God where to sow those seeds of faithfulness, as the Apostle Paul said, “especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

I can’t promise that you’ll reap a harvest within the year like we did in the 80s, but I can tell you that you definitely won’t reap any harvest if you don’t plant any seeds!