There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.
“Why sir,” said the farmer, “Didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”
So it is with our lives… Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.
In his story the farmer did not give up his good crop or his lively hood. Neither did he support his neighbors. It is important to understand that he gave his neighbors seed corn. Seed corn is what was required to grow and good quality corn. The farmer did not plant or raise the crop for his neighbors. He did not harvest the corn. The farmer did not carry the final product to his neighbors.
What the farmer gave his neighbors was the resource needed to work themselves to produce a successful crop. It is sad in our society today that some have taken this vital principle of life and twisted it in an attempt to produce a culture of dependency and entitlement.
A successful life comes when we encourage and resource others to be independent and resourceful. But it does not happen when part of the community (culture) lives in dependency waiting on others to supply them without lending to the process of productivity.
When we live in harmony with this principle that the farmer practiced, we assist others in growing in personal development and independence. We also are aided and benefited in our own lives as our productivity matures.
You have something to share with others. It is something that will benefit and resource them throughout their lives and the cross pollination effect will benefit your life as well.
When you give of yourself to pull others up, you too, will be lifted. Don’t forget this week to share the best of your seed corn with others.
For more on this topic contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.
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