Karma: Doing Good Travels
Karma, what goes around comes around, or cause follows effect; no matter how you say it the meaning is the same. In scripture this principle is stated this way, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7). Reaping what you sow is a principle that is easily understood by a gardener like me. I know that when I plant my jalapeno plants that I will get a much desired harvest of jalapenos. This principle is at work in our world in more ways than plants can describe.
I am from one of the largest wheat producing states in the nation (Kansas) and the farmers there know that you must sow before you reap, you reap much later than you sow, and you also reap much more than you sow. Farmers sow wheat and its wheat they get; and Paul, in writing about this principle says, “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8).
Someone leaves me little treats on my desk on Sunday mornings. I suspect I know who they are but their identity still hasn’t been made know. One of the recent treats was an Epic 100% Bison bar. There are 7 grams of protein packed in a very small bar. I opened it and it tastes like bacon and cranberry. I thoroughly enjoyed it so much that I kept the wrapper in my truck so I could remember what it was called. I’m sure that Tawnya saw that wrapper lying there and judged my cleanliness (but I knew exactly what I was doing).
There is someone in my life that has been asking a lot of my family lately. We don’t mind giving but this particular person seems to always be in need of something. Tawnya and I constantly have to check ourselves to make sure that we are not enabling. Today, this person asked me to bring them an item because they were tight on time and couldn’t drop by and get the item themselves. I was right in the middle of calculating my reimbursements for April and really too busy to drop everything and go; but I said I would bring them the much-needed item.
As I got into my car I thought, “Well at least where they are located is close to Kroger so I’ll stop in and grab some almonds for lunch so I’ll be able to get all my work accomplished for the day.” But when I slid my water bottle into the cup holder, I noticed the Epic 100% Bison bar wrapper sitting there. I thought, “Well, I’ll check Kroger to see if they have those while I’m there.” I dropped off the needed item and pulled into Kroger. I went immediately to find my almonds and then to the health food section. There was a worker there scanning something and I asked her if they had Epic 100% Bison bars. She said, “Yes, we do. They are one of my favorite snack choices. If you hold on a second, I’m about ready to mark them down to 50% off because we are moving into our new store soon.” I agreed to wait and got a case of Epic 100% Bison bars for $14 and they are usually $28.
You see, someone did good for me and I in turn did good for someone else. Me doing good for someone else allowed me the specific timing to be blessed by something good. Doing good travels!!! John Wesley offers us some very wise counsel when he says, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”
Unfortunately as much as this is true the reverse is also true. Doing bad begets bad. I see people around me who are making choices that are leading to the unraveling of their lives but they just can’t grasp the big picture yet. Whatever a person sows they will reap. Sowing and reaping is a law of nature and a law of God. Job 4:8 in the NLT says, “My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.”
Many people are sowing wrong things-lust, jealousy, control, lying, drinking too much, taking drugs, shoplifting, cheating on their taxes, etc. Billy Graham said, “Some people live by the philosophy that you can sow your wild oats all week and then go to church on Sunday morning and pray for a crop failure.” If you want good in your life then do more good. The choices we make are powerful for they can lead us into abundance or they can lead us into famine. Let us choose abundance by doing all the good we can!