Since beginning to give alot of consideration to what my transition out of professional football will look like, I’ve been laser-focused on planting good seeds in my life. I'm honing in on preparing for the future, and on staying intentional about how I invest my time and energy. What I didn’t realize, was that there are seeds from my past that I can harvest right now.
Have you ever considered that? That in every season that you’re planting, you’re also harvesting what was planted before. Have you planted good seeds in your past?
When it comes to sowing seeds, I want my focus constantly to be: what am I planting right now? And while lots of people ask this question, I wonder if their answers will sustain them in the ways they think they will.
What are you planting?
There is a time for planting seeds for external prosperity, practically and strategically (I actually talk about that here), but when it comes to the bigger questions, the purpose questions, we have to take a step back and ask what we are sowing into our lives.
Are you focused on sowing characteristics in you that will grow the kingdom of God?
Are you sowing into spiritual growth and good fruit?
In my current season of planting, my focus has been thinking about how I can transfer what I’ve planted in the past to my future. It’s taken time, but as I get farther from a life that was professional football, 24/7, I'm considering how I can take what I learned in that season and apply it across the whole of who God has called me to be.
Kingdom man. Family man. Business owner. Father. These are just a few of the areas that require intentional planting now. The reality is, we can rarely control the seasons, but we can always control what we plant in each one. And I’ve found that no matter the season, rainy or dry, I know I want to commit to planting three things, wherever I go.
Planting the Seed of Discipline:
The seed of discipline is simply doing what you have to do in order to do what you want to do. It’s doing what needs to be done, and doing it that way, all the time, regardless of how you feel or what comes your way. I've learned that a disciplined individual dictates time, not the other way around, and they use time to their advantage. This starts with little things and grows into more. It reminds me of the parable in Luke 16 where Jesus literally says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.” So many of us can’t be trusted with little and if we want to reap a reliable harvest we have to begin sowing a seed of discipline in our lives. No matter what or how that looks for you.
Planting the Seed of Integrity:
Integrity is the discipline of the soul. If the seed of discipline is how we act, the seed of integrity is who we are, and in my life, I want to be someone who’s consistent and who doesn’t settle for less than I’ve promised.
If you’ve never taken time to think through it: determine your values and let them drive you. Which values are you willing to sacrifice for which costs? What are you willing to let the world take from you? If there’s anything left in your hand, that you’ll never let go of, those are your values.
Once you know your values, you can protect them. A person of integrity understands how not to put themselves in positions where their values are compromised. They understand how and why not to make it harder on themselves. Planting seeds of integrity means making the choice before the choice is presented, because if you don’t know who you are before the moment of decision, you’ve already lost.
Any goals you create without intense self-understanding will be thwarted by self-misunderstanding.
Planting the Seed of Exposure:
The seed of exposure goes hand in hand with the last two, because without exposing yourself to yourself, you won’t ever be able to sow discipline or integrity. Exposure is critical to accountability. The willingness to be honest with yourself about who you are is everything, and it’s that vulnerability that makes way for growth.
Any goals you make without intense self-understanding will be thwarted by self-misunderstanding. Dreams show us our interests. Goals expose our discipline. Self exposure makes us wrestle with, “Am I really willing to do this and do it well?”
On the flip side, is exposure to others. So much of planting is investing in people, putting yourself out there, going out and joining a community to learn what you don’t know. Whatever that is for you: joining a new gym, taking the accelerator course, or joining the club you might be nervous about. Planting can’t be done in a vacuum and it reminds me of something we say in Pro Athlete Community: “exposure breeds expansion.” Every seed might not land but you’ve got to plant them to see.
I’m excited for what my next chapters hold even if they look completely different because I know, due to what I've planted in the past intrinsically, I can harvest good crop now. Even if you’re in a difficult season, an unexpected season, or a dry season, there’s still planting that can happen, and down the road you’ll see the fruit of it. Trust me.
Which of these three seeds do you want to plant in your season today?
Let me know in the comments.
Live love,
Ty
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