“A farmer who neglects or refuses to cast his wheat into the earth, because he wants to keep it, can have no increase; but if he sow the wheat in good rich soil, each living grain may multiply itself many fold, though of necessity the seed must be sacrificed in the process.”
Elder James E. Talmage, “Jesus The Christ”
Its very difficult in today’s world of instant gratification to sacrifice something good now for something better in the future. It takes discipline, it takes courage, it takes knowledge that there is something better, and it takes faith because we don’t know what that something better is exactly.
That is what our mortal journey is all about. We sacrifice the instant pleasures in life because we know there awaits us something far grander and greater in the next life. We are taught to seek the kingdom of God first. But many times that means not being comfortable in this life. We suffer pain, heartache, sadness, sorrow, sickness, disease, poverty, etc. Why? Because sometimes the seed has to be sacrificed in order for the harvest to be rich in abundance. If you don’t plant it, you get no harvest, no increase. Interesting thing about the harvest is that you get exponentially far more in return than what you gave up.
Two things cause a beautiful, rewarding, abundant harvest. First, we have to sacrifice the seed. We have to give up something now for something greater down the road, no matter how far down. Second, our soil has to be ready for the seed in order for it to grow the best that it can. Otherwise it avails us nothing. Our sacrifice is in vain.
So we know that we will receive a hundred fold and more in the next phase of the Plan if we give up the natural man now. Only…that is hard to do. Our human tendency is to be comfortable now. If someone offered you a million dollars now or a billion dollars when you reach 100 years old, which would you take? Would you do everything in your power to live until you reached 100? Eat healthy, exercise, avoid, stress, sleep enough, etc. Would you work hard so that when the time comes, you and your family could enjoy it? Even if you couldn’t enjoy it very long, guess what… you made it so you could see 100 years old.
Anyway, I digress. My thought is, plant the seed now. The seed of faith, the seed of testimony, the seed of obedience, etc. Make sure your soil is healthy when you do. When it comes time to reap, unimaginable will be our joy and reward.