Sowing and Reaping

   

"They who sow in tears 
shall reap with joyful singing."

Psalm 126:5 

Sow with a generous hand

Pause not for toil and pain;

Weary not through the heat of summer,

Weary not through the cold spring rain;

But wait till autumn comes

For the sheaves of golden grain.

Scatter the seed , and fear not,

A table will be spread;

What matter if you are too weary

To eat your hard-earned bread;

Sow, while the earth is broken,

For the hungry must be fed. 

Sow while the seeds are lying
In the warm earth's bosom deep,
And your warm tears fall upon it-
They will stir in their quiet sleep,
And the green blades rise the quicker,
Perchance, for the tears you weep.

Then sow;-for the hours are fleeting,
And the seed must fall today;
And care not what hand shall reap it;
Or if you shall have passed away
Before the waving cornfields
Shall gladden the sunny day.

Sow-and look onward, upward,
Where the starry light appears,
Where, in spite of the coward's doubting,
Or your own heart's trembling fears,
You shall reap in joy the harvest
You have sown today in tears
"Sowing and Reaping"
Adelaide Anne Procter







The troubles of the saints will not last always,
 but, when they have done their work, 
shall have a happy period.
 The captives in Babylon were long sowing in tears,
 but at length they were brought forth with joy,
 and then they reaped the benefit of their patient suffering,
 and brought their sheaves with them to their own land,
 in their experiences of the goodness of God to them.
 Job, and Joseph, and David, and many others,
 had harvests of joy after a sorrowful seedness. 
Those that sow in the tears of godly sorrow
 shall reap in the joy of a sealed pardon 
and a settled peace.
 Those that sow to the spirit, in this vale of tears,
 shall of the spirit reap life everlasting, 
and that will be a joyful harvest indeed. 
Blessed are those that mourn,
 for they shall be for ever comforted.
-Matthew Henry's Commentary