They Did Not Wait to Feel Better
“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.”
— Psalm 126:5-6 (NIV)
Fifteen songs in a row carry the same one line heading, and this is one of them. The first half looks back at a time when God turned things around for Zion, and the song never says when that was. The line right before these two asks him to do it again, like water in the Negev, where the channels of that southern desert lie dry most of the year and fill in a rush after rain. Then the song drops into farm work. In the hill country north of there, grain went into the ground in autumn, once the first rains had softened it, and what was cut came months later in spring. A whole winter sat between the two jobs. The grain kept back for planting was the same grain that would otherwise have been ground into flour, so what went into the ground was bread nobody ate. A sheaf is simply a bundle of cut stalks tied in the field where they fell. What went into the ground in tears was not lost, and the harvest that came back was God's to give.
When something hurts, it is easy to decide everything else can wait until it stops. When grief or illness drags on at home, you do not go back even to the small things you once did for joy: the guitar, Saturday baking, a walk with the camera. It feels as if sowing can wait until the tears dry. This song says something else: you sow in tears, not after them. Seed goes into the ground in autumn, the harvest comes after winter, and God gives it. Your tears do not have to dry before something can grow.
A seed on the windowsill
- 1Plant something today whose harvest you will have to wait for: a garlic clove from the kitchen or a flower bulb, in the garden or in a pot. Do it today even though you are in no mood for it, because this is your seed sown in tears. Write today's date on the pot or on a stick by the bed.
- 2If you have nowhere to plant, stand a garlic clove root end down in a jar with a little water on the windowsill, write the date on the jar, and top up the water for a week.
God, there is something that makes me want to cry, and you know what it is. I cannot turn it into joy today. I am putting one seed in the ground today, though it has not stopped hurting. The harvest is in your hands, not mine. Amen.
I sow one seed today, before it stops hurting.
How long was the wait between putting grain in the ground and cutting it?
Months. In the hill country the grain went in during autumn, once the first rains had softened the ground, and what was cut came in spring. A whole winter sat between the two jobs.
Why did planting cost them anything if they already had the grain?
Because planting grain and eating grain are the same grain. Whatever went into the ground was bread nobody ate that winter, and a sheaf, a bundle of cut stalks tied in the field, only came back months later.
What does this card ask me to do today?
Plant something whose harvest you will have to wait for, even a garlic clove in a pot or in a jar of water, and do it today even though you are in no mood for it. Sowing in tears does not wait for the tears to dry.