Once upon a time, a
farmer was offered a choice piece of fertile ground. The former owner had worked hard for
many years to stock the barn with various seeds to produce more than ample
harvests. It was good soil
and the purchase included everything for a successful farming venture….a barn
full of seed, a partially dug well and general farm implements.
The new farmer borrowed money from the local banker for the
purchase of the soil, the well, the barn full of seeds and the farmer pitched a
tent. Then the new owner
began tapping the well for a deeper water table to sustain the crops and set
about planting for the coming season.
Along came a younger farmer who recognized the potential
bounty and offered to share the tending of the fields, but the inexperienced
share-cropper had no seed to plant.
So, the new owner took half of the purchased seed from the
barn and gave it freely to the younger farmer for the ground they shared. Month by month, year by year, the
younger farmer leased the land, tilled the soil and enjoyed the harvest from
the seeds.
As the young farmer's family grew, the older
farmer came along side to “side-dress” the crops with fertilizer when necessary
and continued to farm the land in the younger one’s absence.
The owner paid off the loans and the banker was pleased. Folks from miles around knew the
farm’s reputation from the produce of their harvests. Other share- croppers came along to
farm the available soil and they too, prospered.
One day, after many years, the owner grew much older and
weary of the responsibility of the farm. The older farmer saw that the younger
farmer had matured and was ready to master the farm alone. An offer was made to sell the farm for
merely half the cost of the first seed that had produced such a harvest
every year, but the younger farmer was fearful and blind to the value of the
farm and the investment of the initial seed that had been shared so
long ago.
The gentle older farmer spent time alone and waited to
hear what the young share-cropper had decided. It was a testing time of prayer and
fasting, a time to remain humble, unselfish and mildly patient while waiting
for the young farmer to commit to the purchase of the tents, barns of seeds,
and now, the deeply dug well. The
other share- croppers were eager and strived to keep the harmony and oneness
that bound them all together in peace. They
made allowances in their share of the crops because they all loved one another.
Time passed and morning brought the answers. The
farmers, old and young, eventually came to understand, accept and embrace
their temporary stewardship roles over the fertile soil and all the
share-croppers were entrusted to dispense more seed and water from the well to
benefit many generations to come…
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Accord breeds unity. Accord is a property of community that binds a man to a high prupose of another without respect to the agreement and consent of others.
ReplyDeleteUnity is when many find that they have independently come to the same conclusion and that each serve a common objective in an orderly way for the benefit of the One whose purpose they are serving.
Your story is a great depiction of accord breeding unity. Thank you Kate.
William Word, Jr.
Your Gratefully Betrothed
Until July 13, 2013