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Life Is Like Working in a Farm Field

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As we begin this Wisdom Note, picture with me in your mind that we are on a hike on a beautiful sunny summer day. As we move slowly up the trail, we come to a clearing overlooking a valley. In the valley are acres of fields containing crops, and we notice the workers stooped over, busily harvesting the crops by hand.

Growing up on a small farm and apple orchard, I am reminded of how life is like working in the field harvesting the crops. We worked many hours harvesting both vegetable crops and picking apples by hand one at a time. Apple harvest was an intense season, requiring a lot of work climbing both the trees and ladders to reach all of the apples. In addition to the physical labor of climbing, we had a picking bag strapped to our front, which when full would hold between 40 and 50 pounds of apples.

As I remember the many years of growing up, I do reflect on how blessed I was to learn the value of hard work and many other lessons and wisdom that I can now apply to each day. This reminds me of a lesson taught by one of my virtual mentors Jim Rohn. His lesson was titled “Look Up, Look Around, and Then Get Back to Work.” Let’s look at each of these points.

1. Look Up

Whether we are working in a field, like we see the workers in the valley that we overlook on our trek today, working in an office, digging a ditch, or completing any other task during the day, let us take time to pause and look up. We are to look up to give thanks to God and ask Him to help us through each day.

As King David proclaimed in Psalm 121:1-3, “I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.”

In 1 Chronicles 16:8 David also said, “Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.”

2. Look Around

Once we look up, next we should look around. The reason to look around is to assess our progress and to see if any other workers in your field need your help. We are all on this trek of life together. When others are in need of help, we should be ready and prepared to help them. We never know when we will also need help from someone.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 reminds us, “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.”

Also in order to get the crop harvested on time or any other work accomplished in a timely manner, we will need many to help as Jesus describes the spiritual harvest to his disciples in John 4:35-36, “You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!”

3. Then Get Back to Work

Whatever our job, occupation, and calling is in life, we should work hard, work with excellence, and be consistent and persistent in all that we do. We never know when our work on this trek of life will be complete.

John 9:4 admonishes, “We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.”

Hard work brings success and will benefit us tremendously. There are numerous verses in Proverbs that give us the grounded principles for success.

Proverbs 10:4, “Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich.”

Proverbs 12:11, “A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense.”

Proverbs 21:5, “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.”

Today we are reminded that life is like working in a farm field. We should look up, look around, and then get back to work.

Life at the Speed of Average

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Average Speed, Incredible Results

As we begin this new year, we have over 360 days ahead of us. So many people like to rush into the new year and attempt to accomplish everything at once. While this is exciting and enticing, it is also why so many people quickly burn out and abandon their resolutions and goals.

Many people have asked me, how do you keep up with a daily podcast along with your other responsibilities? I have to admit, it was not always easy, but, for now, I am committed to a five day per week podcast. It takes being consistently persistent in the small things of life to achieve what appears to be great results. You can even move a mountain one stone at a time, as long as you are consistently persistent for a very long period of time.

I certainly have no extraordinary abilities or talents. I am a fairly average person but have a desire and drive and choose to move one stone at a time from the mountains that stand in front of me. You too can be average and still be a mountain mover. Let’s look at what can be accomplished even if you feel that you are considered average.

I was an average student who grew up very poor on an apple orchard. I did not allow being “average” hold me back.  Through being consistently persistent, I have written nearly 1 million words within the daily journals in preparation for the podcast over the past 19 months. At initial glance, it does look like a huge undertaking, but it was accomplished by writing a few pages each day consistently.

Due to the nature of our consulting work and other projects, I do not have the luxury to hide away in a remote location and write, record, edit, and publish the daily podcast and journals in batches, but like our trek of life, I take it one day at a time. It reminds me of a little booklet that I read many years ago called “Little Is Much When God Is In It.” The premise of the book is to be faithful in the small everyday tasks, and you will be able to accomplish much. It’s okay to be average as long as you are faithful and consistently persistent in the small tasks of life.

This concept holds true for all areas of your life. For example, anyone can feel a burst of inspiration, head to the gym, and push themselves really hard for a single workout. That’s maximum speed but will produce little result long-term. Instead, what if you had a slower paced workout, but averaged 4 days per week in the last month? How about the last three months? Or the last year? What has your average speed been? Your long-term results will be much greater if you are consistent over an extended period of time, even if each day did not include an intense workout.

This principle holds true for your work habits, your eating habits, your relationship habits, and virtually every other area of your life. Here’s the surprising thing about average speed…It doesn’t take very long for average speed to produce incredible results.

So often we waste our time and energy thinking that we need a monumental effort to achieve anything significant. We tell ourselves that we need to get amped up on motivation and desire. We think that we need to work harder than everyone else. While I am all for continual improvement, it does not take herculean efforts to see huge results over a long period of time.

The natural question that follows from all of this is, “How do I increase my average speed?” Last year I read an article written by blogger James Clear where he wrote “Habit Graduation: How to Increase Your Average Speed.” In other words, graduating from your current habit level to one level higher. Basically, habit graduation is about increasing your average speed.

Here are some examples…

  • If your average speed is eating three healthy meals per week, can you “graduate” that to one healthy meal per day?
  • If your average speed is exercising once per week, can you “graduate” that to twice per week?
  • If your average speed is to only read spiritual or inspirational materials once per week, can you “graduate” to three times per week?

We all have an average speed when it comes to our habits. And, if we’re honest with ourselves, that average speed might be much slower than we’d like. The truth is, anyone can get motivated and push themselves for one day, but very few people maintain a consistent effort every week without fail.

In your health, your work, and your life, it doesn’t require a massive effort to achieve incredible results — just being consistently persistent over a period of time.

This reminds me of the parable from Matthew 25:20-21, “The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”

Remember in your life if you are consistently persistent even at an average speed, you can move mountains. Let us work on increasing our average speed gradually at the same time.