Always Plant For The Long Term

Let me ask you a question: What season are you in?
Filipinos don’t think in term of seasons often. Because we only have two seasons: Hot and Very Hot.
But when you go to Europe and the US, they have 4 seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
And I believe the 4 seasons symbolize the 4 phases of our life journey.
Each season is beautiful. One season isn’t better than the other. Each season gives you special gifts. But you need to know how to receive all these gifts.
Spring represents youth, ages 1 to 20.
Summer represents adulthood, ages 21 to 40.
Autumn represents maturity, ages 41 to 60.
Winter represents seniority, ages 61 and onwards.
Are You Maximizing Your Season’s Blessings?
Every season requires a right response.
The Bible says, For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Let me give you an analogy.
When it’s raining, you bring an umbrella. When it’s scorching hot, you bring a fan. When it’s cold, you bring a jacket—and a camera. (I’ve noticed that Filipinos wear jackets not because it’s cold but because we look cool.)
You’ll look pretty foolish if it’s cold and you bring a fan. Or it’s hot and you bring a jacket.
Let me say it again. Every season requires a right response.
Why? Each season brings specially-made, tailor-fit, God-appointed, Heaven-crafted blessings for that season. To maximize your blessings for each season, you need to do the right response.
Here are the right responses for each of the 4 seasons:
During spring, you plant.
During summer, you work.
During autumn, you harvest
And during winter, you renew.
Please know that these activities aren’t exclusive to the season. Of course, you can mix them up. You can renew during summer, and you can work during spring, and so on. But if you mix them up, you won’t maximize the blessings of the season that you are in.
For the next four weeks, I’ll share with you these 4 Seasons.
What Season I’m In Now
But I’ve realized we’re not just living in one season. I noticed that I could experience one season in one area and another season in another area.
For example, because I started in the spiritual life when I was 12, it’s autumn in my spiritual life. I’m harvesting now.
But in my financial life, it’s still summer for me. Summer means work. And yes, I’m working very hard. Because I started late. I began working on my finances when I was 30 years old.
And because I got married at age 32, it’s still summer for me too in my family life. I still have small kids and I’m busy building my relationships with them. (Two weeks from now, I’m taking a three-day trip with my 6-year old boy. Just the two of us. While walking under a canopy of stars, I’ll tell my little Francis, “I love you, son.” That’s where I am now—working hard to build my relationships with my kids.)
Let me ask you. In each area of your life, what season are you in?
God Wants You To Bear Fruit
The Bible says, He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season… In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalms 1:3)
What is God telling you? That you’re the tree. And He is the stream. As long as the tree is near the stream, that tree will always bear fruit—because it has an unending supply of water.
As long as you live near the Blesser, you’ll bear fruit. Your blessings will come. You’ll work will prosper. Your success will be at hand.
Let me tell you a story. My wife loves crabs. She doesn’t eat as much today because she knows it’s not the healthiest food in the world. (It was a dark day for her when I gave my talks in Awaken The Healer In You—because I said that crabs and crustaceans were scavengers and eat toxins—and are therefore not very healthy for us.)
Once upon a time, she used to eat lots of it. She was telling me that she went with a few crab-loving friends to an Eat-All-You-Can Buffet. Their goal was to eat crabs only. They didn’t know there were other people in that buffet who had the same idea. So the moment the plate of crabs arrived on the buffet table, the crabs would be wiped out in ten seconds.
So the next time they ate there, they knew what to do. They chose the table closest to the crabs. Whenever the waiter came with a fresh plate of crabs, she and her friends would stand up and be the first in line.
They positioned themselves near the source of supply.
In life, that’s what you need to do. If you want blessing, you’ve got to live near the Blesser. Don’t wander far. Don’t walk away. Don’t live at the periphery. Go where God is and plant yourself near Him and never let go. Because God is the source of your promotion. God is the source of your health. God is the source of your wisdom. God is the source of your miracles.
The Bible also says, But I will bless those who put their trust in me. They are like trees growing near a stream and sending out roots to the water. They are not afraid when hot weather comes, because their leaves stay green; they have no worries when there is no rain; they keep on bearing fruit. (Jeremiah 17:8)
I love the line, “They have no worries when there is no rain.”
Face it. There are times in your life when there is no rain. There are times when your eyes search the horizon and there is no physical evidence of the blessings of God.
When you look at your bank account, there is no money.
When you look at your body, there is no health.
When you look at your relationships, there is no love.
But the Bible says that we walk by faith, not by sight. (1 Corinthians 5:7) Even if your physical eyes can’t see the blessing yet, say, “Wherever the Blesser goes, the blessing follows. And I have the Blesser!”
When there seems to be no rain yet, say, “Though the economy is bad, God will still bless me. Though the medical report isn’t good, God will still bless me. Though I have problems in my work, God will still bless me. Though I have conflicts in my family, God will still bless me. Though there is no rain, God will still bless me.”
Plant For The Long Term
Let me talk about the Season of Spring.
How do you live near the Blesser during spring?
Age 1 to 20 reflects the Season of Spring, the Season of Planting.
But if you’re starting anything new in your life, it’s still spring in that area, no matter what your age. And the response being required by that season is to plant for the long term.
I have a friend who is in his early 50’s. Let’s call him Late Louie. Through the years, Late Larry earned a lot of money. But through all those years, he never saved. He just spent and spent and spent. Recently, he read my financial books and attended my financial seminars. Today, Late Louie is a changed man. He’s now started to invest.
So even if he’s in his 50’s, it’s still spring in his financial life.
I told Louie, “You need to plant for the long-term.”
Louie isn’t planting today and expecting to harvest tomorrow. Louie is planting everyday—and he’s expecting to harvest 10 years from now.
Planting For the Long Term In Your Marriage
I know a married couple who have been married for almost 20 years. Let’s call them King Kong and Godzila. Because for all those 20 years, they were like King Kong and Godzilla to each other. They were monsters. They fought everyday. It was hell in their home. King Kong and Godzilla gave their lives to Jesus more deeply. And I’m happy to say that God is healing their marriage. And for the first time, they’re respecting each other. They’re serving each other.
It’s awkward. They’re not used to it. King Kong feels awkward when he tells his wife, “Thank you for preparing dinner. It was delicious.” Nor is Godzilla used to telling her husband when he gets home from work, “I appreciate you working so hard for the family.”
Though they’re in their late forties and married for twenty years, they’re still in the spring of their marriage.
I told them what I told Louie: Plant for the long-term.
Don’t expect everything will be rosy. Old habits of selfishness die hard. But keep planting seeds of respect. Seeds of service. Seeds of trust. And due time, you’ll harvest big time.
Here’s what I realized. In life, long-term is almost always better than short-term. Almost nothing great comes out of short-term.
Long-term thinking is better than short-term thinking. Long-term relationships are better than short-term relationships. Long-term investments are better than short-term investments. Long-term businesses are better than short-term businesses.
Brewed coffee is better than instant coffee. Oven-baked food is better than microwave-cooked food. Slow-cooked meal is better than instant noodles.
God is always long-term. How long?
Eternally long.
Three Important Seeds
There are three seeds you need to plant during the Season of Spring:
o Plant your long-term Dreams
o Plant your long-term Teams
o Plant your long-term Learnings
1. Plant Your Dream:
Life is like a long car trip.
Before you ride the car, you need to define where you want to go.
Imagine if every morning, I ride the car and I wave to my wife, “See you, sweetheart.”
“Where’re you going?” she asks me.
Imagine if I tell her, “I don’t know. I’ll just ride.”
Wouldn’t that be insane?
But that’s how many people live their lives today. They’re driving their cars, going in circles.
Let me say it again. Life is like a long car trip.
You’ve got to define where you’re going.
Listen: You were born for greatness. God created you to go somewhere. God made you for a divine purpose. You’re supposed to bless the world in a very special way. This divine purpose is connected to how He made you. He gave you a specific passion. He gave you a specific personality. He gave you specific preferences and potentials and possibilities. All of which are connected to your divine purpose. The Bible says, For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not harm. (Jeremiah 29:11)
During spring, you need to plant your long-term dreams.
Living near the Blesser means going where God wants you to go. Because where He wants you to go is the place of prosperity.
A long time ago, in the Light of Jesus Family, we used to have a 3-page mission and vision statements. But no one remembered them. Today, we’ve shrunk them to four words.
Our mission: Make disciples.
Our vision: 1000 Feasts.
Having a focused, simple dream is powerful. Everyone rallies behind it. We know what we want. And yes, we’ll make it happen.
2. Plant Your Team:
Knowing where to go is important.
But knowing who will go with you is equally important.
Choosing your Team is as important as choosing your Target.
If your dream is long-term, you’ve got to choose a long-term team as well.
Because life is a long car trip, you need to choose the people who will be in the car with you. If you have the right people in the car, you can do almost anything. The Bible says, And I tell you more: whenever two of you on earth agree about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in Heaven. (Matthew 18:19 )
One of the greatest blessings that God gives a person is having the right team around you.
I started Light of Jesus Family 31 years ago with a bunch of guys that are still serving with me to this very day.
I don’t count in days, weeks, months, or years. I count in decades. If you want to be successful, you should too.
3. Plant your Learning:
Spring is a time of making mistakes, taking risks, getting messy. When you’re young, when you’re starting out, don’t play it safe. Don’t avoid mistakes! If you avoid mistakes, you’ll avoid victory.
Don’t be afraid of mistakes. Because many mistakes are short-term. But the lessons from those mistakes can be long-term.
During spring, plant your long-term learnings.
During spring, don’t be afraid of taking risks. (But at Autumn or Winter, you don’t take too many risks. It’s a different world!)
Here’s the truth: The only way to speed up your success rate is by speeding up your failure rate.
In life, there are no failures. Only lessons.
When Israel left slavery in Egypt, Moses led them to the edge of the promised land. Israel sent 12 spies to scout the area—and everyone of those 12 spies reported to the people that the land was flowing with milk and honey. But despite what they saw, only 2 out of the 12 spies said, “Let’s take the land!” 10 out of the 12 spies said, “We can’t take the land. We’ll be crushed by the giants.”
The people of Israel believed in the 10 spies and decided to play it safe. And because they played it safe, they got stuck in the desert for 40 years.
Do you feel you’re stuck?
Do you feel like you’re moving in circles?
It’s because during your spring, like the Israelites, you preferred safety over growth. You can’t do that. If you’re still in your springtime, you need to take calculated, well-studied, well-researched risks to grow.
I remember a young woman who was “stuck” with her boyfriend. All her friends have told her, “He’s not good for you. He’s a bum. He’s an alcoholic. Get rid of him.” But she couldn’t. In her mind, she said, “If I get rid of him, who will take his place?” She preferred safety over growth. It was a fatal decision.
I remember a man who came up, saying, “Bo, I’ve had the same job for 12 years. I’ve never been promoted all this time.” I asked him, “Why haven’t you moved?”
But I already knew the answer. He preferred safety over growth.
In the past 30 years, Light of Jesus Family made a lot of mistakes. I can write an entire book just about our mistakes. And believe me, that book will be as thick as the Bible.
But it is because of those mistakes—and the mercy of God—that made us who we are today. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is, We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
Plant for long-term!