Seeds & Synergies 2 | Reaping Where We Sow

The first time my memory properly recalls encountering Aunt Praxedes face to face was in 2015. Uncle Martin had just completed his house in Kakumiro, their ancestral home. We all had to travel to join the party. Mom told us to go greet Aunt Prax Martin (Third left)and her husband Uncle Steven.

“Thank them for having stood financially where your father wasn’t these past six years.”

So, I led the throng of my little three siblings. The old couple was very excited to see us. After exchanging few pleasantries, Uncle whispered into Aunt’s ear — or was it the other way round — I don’t recall. But what proceeded afterwards was Uncle pulling out a bundle of red notes out his pocket.

Oh My God! I exclaimed as my eyes nearly popped out their sockets.

They handed me a hundred thousand shillings to split evenly among my siblings. We were very grateful. That action turned our day around.

I grew fond of Aunt Prax because of her big heart and generosity. I was greatly blessed by that gesture as I enjoyed my senior six vacation.

The other time I encountered Aunt Prax was in 2019. I was preparing to board my very first flight! The enthusiasm! O boy!

I was undertaking a mentorship program that required I and my colleagues to travel for a leadership conference to Kenya by PLANE. When we asked why we would not use buses, we were told we were going to be global leaders and we’d be invited to countries like Spain which can only be reached by plane and not bus! Failure to travel by plane meant disqualification from the program.

I had to dig through my contacts. I was willing to invest in myself as much. That’s when Aunt Prax came to mind. I didn’t want to beg. I proposed to make her a family art piece of lettering so that in return, all profit could go towards purchasing my airplane ticket. She told me to go to Doctor’s Plaza, her workplace where she was a paediatrician. I sold the idea. I’d carried an art piece to show her how it’d look like.

She said she had no where to hang such a large masterpiece bearing the family name, “… but I like innovative and creative people.” She added. “You remind me of your father. Always up and about taking up challenges … For that I’ll contribute 200,000 Uganda Shillings.”

Ah, I leapt with joy. I thanked her. That marked my journey to the plane. The rest of the 1.7 million needed came, but her seed towards my dream left something beyond what words could say. It’s no wonder thousands turned up for the vigils and her final send off two weeks ago when she passed on. I was seeing seeds of her generosity and kindness in all the lives she had sowed towards…

I met Blake, Uncle Martin’s son, alongside Christian, a son to Aunt Fortunate (a younger sister to Aunt Prax) during Jemma’s birthday last year. Jemma too is Uncle Martin’s daughter. These boys brought up a random conversation about my dad. They said he was ‘easy on the paper.’ He used to visit and add them pocket money which would extend their sustenance while at school. And don’t we all love those relatives who do this!

Uncle Martin (Third left)

That’s a story I didn’t know. My mother adds that he oft visited relatives bearing gifts, even when he was in the early stages of kidney failure. It’s no wonder that in random crowds, people who notice us his children tend to return the favor.

One time, as we sought to go to his ancestral home, a colleague he employed — who’s extremely rich now — offered us a car with a full tank, and extra cash for gas to cater for the entire journey all for free!

“That man did more for me than you’ll ever know.” He’d say. I’m not boring you with all this. I’m building up a case whose motive you’ll soon know.

In the first part of ‘Seeds and Synergies’, I talked about my friend Sam who passed on last year. I sought to stress the matter that the things we do for others are in return done to us, directly or indirectly; to us or to our children; to us or to our parents; They are seeds of our acts of kindness that later grow into trees that cause the same kindness to drop back unto us.

For example: because of Aunt Prax’s generosity towards me, if her children or grand children come in need of my help, or seeking something that’s within my power to avail, I can not hold back. The seed of her goodness places a demand for me to return that goodness in one way or another. I am not telling us to be good because we shall demand for that good back later. Even the Bible says we should do good expecting nothing in return. But since we are made from dust, by default, we are ground that swallows the seeds of whatever is sown into us germinating trees of the nature or the seed.

If we sow hate in others, that’s when we hear stories of sons killing their fathers for having been cruel to them or to their mothers as they grew. Jesus said that we ought to do unto others what we’d like to be done unto us. (Matt 7:12) That’s one of the core messages that this article means to teach. But more to that, I’d like to belabour the fact that we also reap WHERE we sow on top of reaping WHAT we sow.

I bring my defence by the mere theory of farming. When we plant matooke in Nansana (a suburb), we won’t go to harvest it from Muyenga which is in Kampala the city. We have to drive all the way back where we planted it.

I have one more story for my exhibit:

Sam and I resolved to meet twice or more within the week to pray and share. Sam suggested we meet at our local church grounds to pray since both our homes weren’t convenient. This was from late 2016. We convened for many days and many years, praying not only for our needs, but also for needs of the church whose grounds we stood on by default. It was under construction in phases, and so we used to pray for the materials, the expansion, the leadership, etc.

Sam and I praying on ground, Dec 2019

For years we kept the discipline, praying from different spots of the church as it was being built. We met in unfinished board rooms, then the extreme roof top, then the would-be-extended auditorium, then the overflow upstairs — everywhere! Our feet covered most ground of the building. Now it so happened that when the main auditorium was completed, the senior pastor of the church asked that I and Sam ushered us into the first service in it. We had been using another smaller auditorium somewhere else as the main was being burgeoned.

It was overwhelming — the invitation. The initial auditorium had been to the capacity of 800 people. It was now to the capacity of 3000 people! It was a huge honor! That was 22nd December 2019.

The following day, the senior pastor extended the invitation again. He said he had wanted us to emcee the annual Christmas Eve service. Sam asked me not to ‘dish’ the opportunity. I agreed, and once again we brought down the house with hearty laughter through our stand-up comedy in between the agenda items. As though that wasn’t enough, the senior pastor returned one more time, and asked us to emcee the Shift service. This was the overnight service into 2020!

We stood before more than 3000 people THRICE. The auditorium filled and on top of that, we had crowds watching the live stream from across the world via Facebook and YouTube. Our names were famous. I used to meet strangers in traffic and at shopping malls greeting me. Later on each would confess to having seen me on the online platforms hosting the services. I was elated.

Sam and I emceeing the three services chronologically (in anticlockwise order)

Sam was more discerning. He said, “Biggie, it’s no coincidence all of this. Do you know the number of years and days we’ve been on these church grounds praying? I think it’s God rewarding our faithfulness.”

I hadn’t seen it that way. The behind the scenes of the invitation to us had its roots far deeper than the senior pastor could see. God told me — as I meditated on what Sam had told me — that the building and grounds of the church were alive somehow. They heard us intercede for them on top of our personal requests. Since we spent some extra time within and on them respectively, we were sowing some spiritual seeds. In return the building saw no other better fit than us to usher its first commission! “And that building,” God added, “will forever remember your names — even Sam’s, although He is gone now.”

That’s the last example I had about reaping where we sow. Notice how the building secretly in its way forwarded our names for its “christening” or dedication. We sowed while at it, and we reaped at it! This applies to your job as well. Your career, your family, and dream. If you sow at your job, you’ll surely reap a salary or a promotion. If you’ll sow into your business, it’ll grow vast to make you proud.

You can’t focus, empower and ettle at another person’s dream or family while ignoring yours and expect exponential growth. I’m not saying don’t empower others. I’m requesting that as you do, you don’t forget yourself.

The moral is: just like you’ve seen my father’s seeds sown in different lives reaped I and my other siblings a harvest of kindness from others, the acts of kindness you do for others will return the favor, sooner or later, to you or to those that are related to you.

Aunt Prax had people flying into the country for her send off. From the messages that people spoke of her, you’d clearly see that she’d sown gracefully into them prior. And this sowing not only applies to humans. For Sam’s case and I, a building whose auditorium sits 3000 people acknowledged receipt of our seeds.

I pray that you don’t grow weary of doing good for others.

Keep impacting the vulnerable. Keep reaching out to the disadvantaged. Keep living a life of significance. And you’ll be surprised at how the universe will get back at you.

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Psalms 126:6 He who goes forth bearing seed and weeping [at needing his precious supply of grain for sowing] shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

2 Corinthians 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”