The Law of Harvest--the Law of Return

Here is a simple statement of the law of harvest, of the law of return: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” In plain, inelegant language, it is the law of putting something into something before we expect to get something out of something.

Basically, unselfish giving, working, serving, is in a sense an enlightened sort of selfishness, for it carries with it the certainty of receiving. But the man who tightly withholds himself, who seeks altogether to “save” himself, his effort, his energy, to get without giving, to hold tightly to everything he has, will undoubtedly, as any miser must, be found among the most impoverished of people as to the things that matter most.

It is trite to say so, but still inescapably true, that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” And we should not expect to have a harvest without working and waiting; we should not expect to receive dividends without saving and investingnor to acquire skill without practice, nor knowledge without study, nor reward without work.

We must not expect friends without offering friendship, nor kindness without giving kindness, nor understanding without offering understandingand we must be ready to give first, and not expect others always to make the first move. In other words, we must be willing to put in before we expect to get out. And the attitude of holding back, of never making the first move, of “saving” ourselves, in a niggardly sense, constitutes a kind of stifling stalemate.

Someone has to have faith, and the willingness to waitfaith enough to put in the fuel before the wheels begin to go, faith enough to save and invest before the dividends come due, faith enough, and foresight, and wisdom, and understanding and kindness and hospitality, and bigness of heart to make the first move in friendship, in love, in service, and even in common courtesy.

Someone has to have faith in men, faith in the future, faith enough to learn, to work, to save, to invest, to waitfaith enough to give of himself before he begins to get. And as surely as the law of return, the law of compensation operates, and assuredly it does: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days”with an increase of it also.