striving vs sowing
Striving looks productive. It’s loud. Impressive. Urgent.
But it’s brittle. It burns out. It demands results on a timeline that serves your ego, not your soul.
Sowing, on the other hand, is quiet. It’s slow. Invisible, most of the time.
But it builds deep roots. It doesn’t chase fruit—it prepares for it.
“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)
The difference is posture.
Striving tries to force an outcome. It says “if I push hard enough, I’ll get what I want.”
Sowing trusts a process. It says “if I stay faithful, fruit will come—even if I don’t see it yet.”
Striving needs validation. Sowing is content with obscurity.
Striving compares. Sowing tends to its own soil.
Striving exhausts. Sowing builds capacity.
Jesus never hustled. He walked. He withdrew. He sowed. And when the time came, the harvest was unstoppable—not because he forced it, but because he stayed rooted.
Striving says, “I need to make this happen.”
Sowing says, “I’m part of something unfolding.”
A good question to sit with:
Am I forcing, or am I planting?
The fruit will tell.
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