What to do with what we’ve been given
One day a preacher was driving by an impressive farm.
The fields were beautifully cultivated and abundant with well-cared-for crops. The fences, house and barn were clean, neat, and freshly painted. A row of fine trees led from the road to the house, where there were shaded lawns and flower beds.
It was a gorgeous sight to behold.
When the farmer who was working in the field got to the end of a row near the road, the preacher stopped his car and hailed him. The preacher said, “God sure has blessed you with a beautiful farm.”
The farmer stopped and thought a moment. Then he replied, “Yes, He has, and I’m grateful. But you should have seen this place when he had it all to Himself.”
The farmer understood that he had been blessed with a fine farm; but he was also aware that it was his own love and labor that had brought it to its present state.
Each of us is given a plot to work, a lifetime and the work we have chosen.
Like the farmer, we can be grateful if we have the vision, imagination, and intelligence to build well and successfully upon the seemingly unimpressive land of our beginnings. Or we can let it fall into a haphazard condition, with no real continuity of purpose behind it- with unpainted, ramshackle buildings, surrounded by weeds and debris.
In both cases the land is the same; it’s what we do with it that makes the difference. The potential for a miracle is there, if only we’re wise enough to see it and to realize that our fulfillment depends upon our reaction to what we’ve been given.
-Excerpt from The Wealthy Gardener
(story told by Earl Nightingale)
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