A Conversation with Adey: A Time to Sow and a Time to Reap
About two months ago, after my first interview with Adey Chekol was met with such a resounding response, we sat down for a follow-up conversation. The topic was “shadow work”, which focused on the need to dig deep within ourselves in order to mend the broken parts of ourselves that we normalized and accepted as part of our day-to-day lives.
The second conversation was even more profound than the first one as we both opened up about our past challenges and shared our testimonies with a mix of candor and vulnerability. As I am wont to do, I could not wait for the podcast to air, having patience and trusting God’s time over my whims is something that has cast a shadow over me ever since I was a child in Ethiopia who would plant a kernel of corn one day and dig it up the next to see if it grew.
Alas, the podcast did not air a week later or even a month later. Adey, who is a working mother of two amazing children, had other matters to tend to so the podcast ended up airing last week. When we talked, she apologized that it took as long as it did to which I responded in ways that would alleviate what I believed was her discomfort.
“No worries Adey”, I told her, “this podcast will reach people today who might not have been reached had you released it two months ago, it came out right when it was supposed to come out.”
I did not mention to her that I was anticipating the release of the podcast all along, my people-pleasing ways compel me to cater to the needs of other people instead of expressing myself fully.
It was not until I listened to the podcast that I realized the true value of what I said to Adey in passing to assuage her angst. I started listening to our conversation thinking I would hear the first few minutes and then pick up where I left off while driving to DC. Instead, I sat down on the couch and took in every minute as if I was listening to two strangers sharing a conversation I needed to absorb at that very moment.
I felt like writing this article the minute I finished hearing the podcast but thought twice about it. I wanted to reflect instead of being quick to share my thoughts. I was rewarded for my restraint today as an understanding dawned upon me while I was conducting my daily two-mile walk in Cameron Park. As I was walking past a flock of geese and listening to gospel music, a verse from the Bible pixelated in my mind followed up by a smile that arrives with an “ah-ha” moment.
John 4:36-37 reads “one sows and another reaps”, I always understood that verse to mean that we are awarded commiserate to the work that we do. But today I realized that there is another aspect to that parable, sowing is the work that we do and reaping is all about faith. After all, when a farmer plants, he is not guaranteed that the seeds will turn into a harvest. Countless variables, from drought to locusts to unexpected frostbites, could turn a bumper crop into a season of famines.
Our part is to sow without any guarantee of what the future holds. For too many of us, past hurts and disappointments make us want to control the sowing and the reaping. We try to mitigate heartbreaks, betrayals and letdowns by trying to determine the outcome only to lose out on the blessings of the moments. Until we learn the lesson of just doing our part and not living in the past or the future, we end up drawing people and events that will teach us to free ourselves from the very chains of outside-in living that we have accepted as sources of happiness.
There is another component to reaping after sowing, we have to accept and count our blessings for the harvest even if what we yield does not meet our expectations. Sometimes we reap tears and other times we reap joys but through it all, we must be grateful because the fullness of life comes in the totality of our emotions. These are the realizations we arrive at when we do the very shadow work that Adey and I discussed in the podcast below.
I hope you enjoy the conversation and I highly encourage you to follow Adey and her work on Instagram or on Facebook because her concept of sharing healing conversations by opening up and sharing her own struggles and her hopes is the kind we need in a time where people just want to feel like they are not alone in this world when they are going through their moments of doubt or darkness.
“Our patience will achieve more than our force.” ~ Edmund Burke
- Turn It for Good: Difficulties Will Turn into Victories - July 31, 2022
- A Conversation with Adey: A Time to Sow and a Time to Reap - July 21, 2022
- Send Me: Henok’s Choice to Heal and the Courage to Share His Testimony - July 7, 2022
