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We need to work and exhaust ourselves first and then seek peace. Anyone can often see this in everyday affairs. Just as the one who sows must work, toil, shed sweat and endure the cold, so does the one who practices virtue. Nothing is more alien to peace than man. That is why God made his path narrow and cramped; He even combined not only the deeds of virtue, but also the deeds of everyday life with labor, and the latter much more so. And the sower, and the builder, and the traveler, and the woodcutter, and the artisan, and every person, if he wants to acquire something useful, must work and labor. And just as seeds need rain, so we need tears. Just as the earth needs to be plowed and dug, so the soul needs temptations and sorrows instead of a spade, so that it does not grow bad herbs, so that its cruelty is softened, so that it does not become proud. And the land without careful cultivation does not produce anything healthy. So, the meaning of the prophet’s words is as follows: one must rejoice not only in the return, but also in captivity, and for both, confess gratitude to God. This is sowing, and this is reaping. Just as those who sow after labor enjoy the fruits, so you, he says, when you went into captivity, were like those who sowed, experienced sorrows, labors, exhaustion, disasters, endured bad weather, war, rains, cold, and shed tears. What rain is to seeds, so are tears to those who suffer. But, he says, they received reward for these efforts. Thus, when he [the prophet David] says: those who leave have gone away and wept, throwing their seeds, but those who come will come with joy, gathering their sheaves (Ps. 125:6), he is not talking about bread, but about deeds, teaching the listener not to lose heart in suffering. Just as a sower does not lose heart, although he faces many difficulties, imagining a bountiful harvest, so a sufferer should not lose heart, even though he encounters many sorrowful things, awaiting the harvest, imagining the fruits that come from suffering. Knowing this, we too will thank the Lord for both suffering and peace (2). You might be interested in: