The Crop

There once was a farmer who was blessed with extremely fertile land. And on this land, all the farmer had to do was scatter a few seeds and a bountiful crop would grow.  He was rewarded with a huge harvest year after year with very little effort. And each crop was bigger than the last.

One year, the land was cursed with a terrible drought.  The very plants that had provided so many riches began to wither and die. While the land produced a good yield, it wasn’t as large as it had been in years past.  And weeds that were once choked out by the strong, healthy crops began to take over.

Fertile soil can grow giant weeds as well as fruits and vegetables. And the weeds began to grow and grow.  The farmer tried chemicals to control the weeds, which worked fairly well. But the other plants still continued to wilt and die.

One day dark, angry clouds appeared on the horizon. Before the farmer could protect his crop, there was a violent hailstorm.  And in the blink of an eye, everything was gone. The damage was devastating. The damage was complete. The farmer looked out at his fields and cursed the sky. The crop was destroyed.

He fell to his knees and broke down; he was totally defeated.

As he sobbed, the clouds parted, allowing a sole sunbeam to burn its way to the ground. The farmer felt the warm sun on his face as he looked back out at the destruction before him.  He saw things differently than he had in his whole life.  Instead of seeing ruined crops, he saw the fertile soil beneath it.  There could be an amazing crop once again — but the farmer knew he had to change how he managed his land.

The first step was to remove the ruined crops.  The farmer burned the dead plants and plowed them into the soil.  The past could be a powerful fertilizer for the future.  The farmer toiled for days, dealing with the emotions of what was and the unfairness of the storm.  At times he was angry.  But anger was like plowing salt back into his field.  It would do nothing more than prevent new plants from growing again.

The farmer then sat down and drew a picture of his fields.  He looked at the different types of soil and thought about what would grow better where.  He broke the field into five parts to grow different types of crops.

He then decided what crops would go in four of the areas.  One of the areas he allowed to remain fallow.  And each year he’d rotate the fallow area to another of the other four areas.  He needed to allow the soil to recharge. To build back its nutrients.

Speaking of nutrients, the farmer thought about the types of fertilizers he plowed into the his land.  He was sure to make sure it was good for the crop, not just good for short-term results.  He made a plan of when to feed his plants and stuck to it.

The farmer had faith, too. He had faith that when he planted his seeds, they’d grow into the crops he hoped for. But he met his faith halfway with hard work and planning.  Faith alone would not bring his harvest to market.

Weeds still grew on the land. But since the land was organized and the farmer spend many hours exercising and hoeing them out, they no longer threatened the crop.  He no longer needed the chemicals that had helped him keep them in check.  The weeds slowly withered and died.

Months past and the bounty was greater than the farmer could have ever imagined. His planning meant he had the acreage and the time to try new crops. And they yielded even greater gains than before the storm.  And since the farmer was so grateful that he gave 10% of his new bounty to those less fortune than him.  That bounty wasn’t just part of the crop, it was teaching others how to plan their fields to produce their own bounty.

Droughts and hailstorms came again.  But the farmer had saved enough that he was able to recover from the setbacks.  His plan gave him the structure to snap back.  The crop was quickly growing once again.

Late one summer evening, the farmer sat on his tractor and watched the sun set over his land.  He smiled and looked at the very sky he had once cursed. “Thank you for the storm,” he whispered as he basked in the glory of his largest crop ever.

Our minds are our fields.  Some have more fertile soil than others but we can grow great crops with our brains.  But depression and anger are the weeds that choke out our dreams.  Planning and hard work will keep your fields hoed.  Proper nutrition and exercise will keep the plants fertilized. We’re all blessed with some degree of potential.  And with effort and planning, we can be blessed with a bountiful crop, too.