It seems I’ve heard the saying, “You Reap What You Sow” thousands of times over my lifetime, which I’m very thankful for now. It’s no doubt a great principle in life that keeps on producing results depending on what is done on the front end (good or bad).  I had an experience recently that crystallized the principles into my mind and I’m writing to share about it.  Now, this would be a great story whether or not it involved my son.  I just have a unique perspective since it is about our 11 year old son.  The principles shared will benefit anyone who embraces them. In May of 2015, our son David started up a summer reading program through the library that gave him prizes based on the number of books that he would read. I had the idea about him reading a combination of books that he chose & books that I picked out of my library for him to read.  We agreed to pay him to read the 10 books that I wanted him to read.  We had paid him to read other books of my choosing previously, yet never 10 motivational books in a span of a couple of months.  We did have him give us verbal book reports, yet I didn’t think much about the possible impact this would have on him. At the end of August, he received a popcorn fundraising sheet through his Boy Scout troop that he joined in March 2015. He immediately told me that night that he wanted to be the number one scout in sales within his troop.  He had never voiced a goal to be #1 in popcorn sales the previous five years in Cub Scouts.  I asked him what he thought it would take to be the top seller in the troop.  His answer was $2,500 in sales, since someone did $2,300 the previous year.  Interestingly, the best he had done in any of the past five years was $300 in popcorn sales.  I told him I would help him go after the goal of $2,500 for popcorn sales. I did help him come up with a script and travelled with him door-to-door as his coach because he definitely was getting discouraged at different times. Yet, it was his motivation and hard work that helped him hit the $2,500 goal in the first 3 weeks.  If we were in town and he had completed his homework, he was asking to go popcorn selling almost every day.  At one point before hitting $2,500 in sales, he said, “It’s not I can be the top seller, I will be the top seller!”.  It was exciting to hear him talk like this for the first time in his life!  Since he still had 3-4 weeks before the sales were due, he raised the goal to $3,000, which he quickly hit.  Then, he rose the goal to $3,500 and he hit that as well.  He finally raised the goal to $4,000 with a week to go to the finish line.  He ended up selling $4,296.75 worth of popcorn to 190 customers. This performance caused him to not only be the number one seller for his troop, but he was also the #9 seller out of 44,000 scouts in the Greater St. Louis Area Council for the Boy Scouts of America. As you can imagine we were thrilled to see him excel like this.  I kept wondering what happened to cause such a shift in his attitude.  I finally put the reading of the books several months prior with the cause of his positive attitude and determination to be #1.  He also was very motivated for the prizes he was to receive from the scouts for selling the popcorn. First, I would like to share the books I had him read in no particular order and what I paid him for reading each. Then, I will share the rewards that he earned for doing so well in sales.  Cause and effect or reaping what he sowed!

1. Peaks & Valleys – Spencer Johnson                                          $10.00
2. Jonathan Living Seagull – Richard Bach                                   $10.00
3. Five Wealth Secrets 96% of Us Don’t Know – Craig Hill      $10.00
4. Life Is Tremendous – Charlie Jones                                           $10.00
5. God’s Eye is on the Sparrow – Brenton Dearing (me)         $10.00
6. The Nature of Success – Mac Anderson                                  $ 2.50
7. The Power of Attitude – Mac Anderson                                  $   2.50
8. 212° – The Extra Degree – Sam Parker & Mac Anderson   $   2.50
9. The Prayer of Jabez – Bruce Wilkinson                                 $   2.50
10. If How To’s Were Enough, We Would All Be Skinny, Rich
11. & Happy – Brian Klemmer                                                           $10.00

Total                                                                                                        $70.00 The prizes earned from the Boy Scouts for popcorn sales are as follows:

1. Scout Store Gift Card for achieving over $600 in sales       $ 20.00
2. Camp fees paid for achieving over $2,500 in sales (NYLT) $300.00
3. Scout Store Gift Card for achieving over $4,000 in sales   $200.00
4. Camp fees paid for achieving over $4,000 in sales              $260.00
5. College Scholarship of 6% of total sales of $4,296.75         $257.81
6. 14 tickets to Star Wars for > $4,200 in sales (12/19/15)   $168.00
7. (he was able to take 12 of his scout friends & me)

Total                                                                                             $1,205.81 What are the key principles from the story?

1. Put the correct input into your head for the correct output.
2. Have a vision of what you believe you are to accomplish.
3. Keep focused on your goals and keep raising them when they are accomplished.
4. Put forth the effort and time when most people are not willing to do it.
5. Expect great rewards for your accomplishments.
6. Tell yourself you will hit your goals.

Are there any principles that stick out in the story that were not mentioned? What will you be, do and have as a result of this story? May you be encouraged to sow in anticipation of reaping this year & beyond! To Your Success & Significance, Brenton Dearing