Sowing and reaping

[jennyaxe]

Today we celebrated Lammas, commonly seen as a harvest festival. It was the first time the whole coven met up since Covid started.

So I've been thinking a lot about harvest, and about reaping what you sow.

What we harvest today is what was sown in our past. The wheat on the nearby field was sown in the spring, the apples ripening on the tree outside my window were pollinated in May. And what we sow now will grow later on. That's the essence of the three-fold law - all we do comes back to us, three times over.

I'd like to extend that law, in a positive way. It's one thing to say "I'll do something good now and it'll come back to me in the future". But what if we also say "someone did me a good turn, so I'll do the same three times over"?

"Someone left me their parking ticket with an hour's parking still to go. I'll do the same for three other people."
"Someone gave me a seat on the bus when I was really tired. I'll do the same when I'm able to stand, for three other people."
"Someone lent me money when I was broke. I'll do the same, for three other people."
"Someone helped me with a place to stay when I needed it. I'll do the same, for three other people."

What we sow, we reap. What good other people sow, let yet others reap. Three times over.

Comments

[dmwcarol]

Changing track a bit, these days I don't really think in terms of the three fold return. For me it's more about being the best person I can be. I want people to think of me as one of the good guys and to eventually be a memory of someone who contributed and made the world a better place.

I have benefitted so much from the kindness of others I'm not sure I could ever have a proper account of how much good I owed. It also doesn't feel quite right to do kind and good things because you think they will bring rewards. I feel that kindness should be it's own reward.

[jennyaxe]

I agree - putting too much emphasis on the threefold return makes it feel very transactional. And if you go out into the world with a transactional mindset, the threefold return would give you people demanding things of you as a right, three times over...

I didn't help my friend with housing for three years because I expected it to be returned. I didn't even do it because I'd gotten similar help a couple of decades earlier. I did it because she needed it, and I could. It's like putting food in the bird feeder - I'm not expecting the birds to return the kindness (though they are very helpful with fertilizer, I must say). I'm doing it because it's the kind thing to do. (Also it's fun to see the magpies training the cats to not hunt by the feeders...)

I'd like my gravestone to read "she made the world a little better". It doesn't have to be a lot, just that there will be some people and some part of the world that is the better for my having been there. Like when we've had a gathering at a place and finish up by the Ritual of Collecting the Garbage, when we all walk around and pick up all the garbage we find, so that the place is left neater than when we arrived.