As We Sow, So Shall We Harvest,

by Denis Waitley
(excerpted from The Seeds of Greatness Treasury)



Our true rewards in life will depend on the quality and amount of contribution we make. From the Scriptures to science, psychology and business, the documentation is the same. “As we sow, we reap.” Life is an unfailing boomerang. What we throw out will come back full circle.

The way we can build self-reliance is to recognize the number of alternative choices we have in a free society. And for every choice we make, there is a consequence or reward of that decision that we must acknowledge as our responsibility. God’s Law of Cause and Effect is forever the ruler.

During debriefing interviews, returning POWs from the wars in which we have fought during the past century said that what they missed most of all was their freedom of choice. There are two primary choices in our lives: to accept conditions as they exist or to accept the responsibility for changing them.

To attain emotional security, each of us must learn to develop two critical capabilities: the ability to live with uncertainty, and the ability to delay immediate gratification in favor of long-range goals. Losers let life happen to them. Winners make it happen for themselves and others. Losers engage in pleasurable activities, with no purpose or result in mind. Losers try to escape from their fears and drudgery with activities that are tension-relieving. Winners are motivated by their desires toward activities that are goal-achieving.

A number of research studies during the past decade indicate that the happiest, most well-adjusted individuals are those who believe they have a strong measure of control over their lives. They choose more appropriate responses to what occurs and they stand up to inevitable changes and daily setbacks with less apprehension. They learn from their past mistakes, rather than reinforce or repeat them. They spend time taking action in the present, rather than fearing what might happen in the future.

To be self-reliant adults, we need to set some guidelines:

Be different, if it means higher personal and professional standards.

Be different, if it means being more gracious and considerate to others.

Be different, if it means being cleaner, neater and better groomed than the group.

Be different, if it means putting more time and effort into all you do.

And be different, if it means taking the calculated risk. The greatest risk in life is to wait for and depend upon others for your own security. The greatest security is to plan and act, and take the risk that will ultimately ensure your personal freedom and independence.

-- Denis Waitley