This week Husband’s sister drove their elderly parents to our home for a visit.  This was my in-laws’ first and probably only visit to our newly completed house.  You see, they are in their late eighties and the car trip of 4.5 hours was grueling for them.  On top of that, they didn’t sleep well in this unfamiliar place.  But they didn’t allow their exhaustion to dampen their enjoyment of seeing the result of Husband’s year long hard work.  They reveled in his handiwork.  They complemented.  They exclaimed.  They made us feel like a million bucks.

The day after their arrival we all gathered at Oldest Daughter’s house for a family get-together.  Youngest Son and his wife came with his two precious little ones.  His youngest daughter, now one year old, impressed her great-grandparents with her driving skill.  Yes, she took a liking to her cousin’s battery operated riding four wheeler.  She quickly figured out which button to push to make it go.  After that, she figured out some rudimentary steering, all to the cheers of her great-grandmother.  Oldest Son laughingly remarked that she may turn out to be a rider like him.  (He was a professional motorcycle racer.)  As I stood looking at the group, I was struck by the phases of life we all experience.  I wished we all could end as well as Husband’s parents.  There they sat, side by side, laughing.  They love each other deeply.  They are content.  They are constantly giving to others.  They are reaping the happy harvest of what they have sowed since they were young.  They have been faithful.  Faithful to God, faithful to their family now several generations deep, faithful to help those in need, faithful in hospitality, faithful in serving their church, (my mother-in-law taught kids’ and women’s Bible classes for sixty years!), faithful in sharing their resources.  If you would see them, you wouldn’t take particular notice of them.  They are old, a bit feeble,  and simple.  Not flashy, not wealthy.  But, oh so rich!  Rich in relationships, rich in faith, rich in happiness.  I want to be rich like they are!

A few days later we attended a BBQ at the invitation of a couple who have been true friends for forty years.  They had invited thirteen old friends for a friends reunion.  After the meal as little groups sat together in conversation, it struck me again what faithfulness does for a person. All of our friends, now retirement age,  faced the human experiences of failure, heartache, loss, disappointment, and ill-health in their lifetimes.  Yet every one of them had hung onto their faith.  Each of them had been faithful to God.  They had come thru the fire with their faith in tact.  There were widows and widowers, the handicapped, the blind, yet they were walking with God and they were content and happy.  What I had to take by faith as a young person, I now saw with my eyes.  Keeping faith and doing the right thing brings a happy harvest.

However, one old friend wasn’t present at our pleasant Oregon evening of sharing deep conversations.  Although his former wife was with us with a joyful countenance, he was in New York City in a care facility for the mentally challenged; incapable of deep conversation.  His communication is limited to a few brief sentences.  You see, he had chosen a very different path from the rest of us.  Shirking his responsibility as a father to his three young children, he abandoned his wife and family.  Cleverly dodging child support, he wouldn’t so much as send $5. to his child who asked.  But now at 65 years old he has been betrayed and abandoned by his husband who petitioned the hospital to end his life after complications from surgery set in.  The ethics board refused and provided a feeding tube by which he gained enough strength to physically survive the complications which had brought him near to death, escaping with his body, but not all of his mind.  His husband came to visit him at the hospital with his new boyfriend.  Now our friend is spending his days as a mental and physical invalid alone in the world.  The emotional pain is worse than the physical.  I’m not suggesting that if we behave we will have health and wealth.  That was never promised, nor it is reality as mentioned above.  Many evil people are wealthy and healthy while good people suffer.  What I am saying is that disobedience brings the unhappy consequences of emotional pain; hopelessness, sadness, perhaps regret.  I can remember my father commenting to himself in his sad and lonely old age, “I never thought I would end up like this.”  He was depressed, addicted, and alone.  In his headlong rush for self-fulfilment, he had retreated from those who would have loved him well.  He had spent his life selfishly pursuing his own interests to the exclusion of his family,  being unfaithful to my mother and to the principles he was taught as a child.   What a contrast to Husband’s parents who spent their lives for their family and others, faithful to each other and to God.  In their old age they have peace and joy and in the next life abundantly more.

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.  Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.  So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.  Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.  Galatians 6:7-10

Funny how my perspective from this side of my life span has gotten clearer.  You know how it is when you’re young.  You know you should behave, do the right thing, be responsible; but it’s hard because you don’t know if it really matters.  Maybe if you don’t get caught, don’t hurt someone, look good- just maybe it doesn’t matter so much.  Others are enjoying doing what’s forbidden.  Why deprive yourself of fun or gain?  But from the viewpoint of the latter years, it’s crystal clear how much behavior does matter.  It’s obvious that we do reap what we sow.

You already know this, dear Reader.  Is there someone who needs to hear your experience of sowing and reaping? Someone younger?  Someone struggling with temptation?  Someone who is discouraged?  Someone who is wondering if doing the hard right thing is worth it?