A friend of mine sent this to me. Since it is moving toward Christmas, I thought it would be a good one to share. We talk about gifts a lot. At the end you will see the gifts we can plant.
A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.
Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.
He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you. “The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued,” I am going to give each one of you a SEED today – one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you.
I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”
One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn’t have a plant and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by — still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn’t say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil – he so wanted the seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.
Jim told his wife that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot, but she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful – in all shapes and sizes Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!
When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO. “Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!”
All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!” When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed, Jim told him the story.
The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, “This is your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!” Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his seed.
“How could he be the new CEO?” the others said.
Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead – it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive. Officer!”
*If you plant honesty, you will reap trust
*If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment
* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective
* If you plant hard work, you will reap success
* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation
So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later. What kind of gifts do you plan to plant this Christmas (and always)?
Neat story. It is typical that folks would be dishonest and then make fun of those with integrity. I find this in life too often.
Glad you liked the story. Working in the environment you do I suspect you would see that a whole lot more than I do.
Great law lesson, Bill!
(no gospel in it…but a wonderful law lesson)
“If”…the biggest little law word in the Bible.
I honestly didn’t see it a “law” or “gospel” lesson Stephen. I just thought it was a good lesson to learn about reaping and sowing and honesty. 🙂 I do agree with your “if” comment.
As a Lutheran, I am trained to view all stories in light of law/gospel. It is a mechanism which helps us steer clear of Catholic (works) theology. Which is quite easy for us to fall into…without even knowing it.
Thanks, Bill.
I would suggest these are seeds that parents need to plant in their children. If it doesn’t get planted there it probably isn’t going to get planted. Unfortunately Home Depot doesn’t sell these seeds.
Well said Jeff and no argument from me. It has to start early and what better place than with the parents? Too bad about Home Depot. If they did, we would be in bad shape since there is none close by. 🙂
I actually think this is quite a powerful illustration of how God works. We trust him for the results. So many times when it looks like we’ve failed in our own strength He comes through in surprising ways because we’ve been surrendering it to Him rather than taking control of everything. There’s peace in that that many people can’t understand.
Great way to look at it Peter! And I do agree with you as it being how God works as we trust Him for the results. We plant, someone else waters, but God brings the fruit.
Just a pet peeve I have for religion “believers wait for God to solve problems they could solve themselves.”
i don’t think that is what Peter is saying, nor is it what I am saying. There are times solutions are not there and the best thing to do is to get out of the way instead of trying to force the issue. I have tried to do that at times and really messed things up.
I am just not thinking God has anything to do with it. I agree waiting is sometimes the best solution. I do agree with Peter that there is no possible way I would find peace in “surrendering it to him”
Hi Jeff. Appreciate your comment. I actually agree with you. If there’s a problem we should ‘solve ourselves’ we should totally do it. If someone is hungry- WE feed them. Praying is good, but it won’t feed someone. Jesus partners with us to see his will done on the earth. I think you are right that a lot of people talk about loving others but their actions don’t speak as loudly. The story Bill shared is a little different circumstance, but I get your point.
I believe we should do the best we can with excellence in everything. Even still, we can’t control the outcome. I choose to trust God with this rather than be anxious and fearful about it and that’s where I related with the story Bill shared.
Oh, this is good, Bill …
He sees what’s done in secret … and the heart motivation that prompts every choice.
Now I can start my day.
Glad I could help you start your day Linda! 🙂 Secret is good.
Hi Bill! I loved this story. It makes me wonder if I would have just given up, or bought new seeds. Oh my, I hope I would be as honest as Jim. It was really a test of personal integrity.
I hope to plant more humility in my garden. I find myself judging a lot. Not good! If I reap greatness, that’s nice, but I really want to reap the knowledge that Jesus is in charge!
Blessings,
Ceil
it made me wonder too Ceil…especially since I am not a gardener of any sort. 🙂 I definitely need reminded to plant good seeds.
Good story. Good morals. Printing this out for my boys to read.
This makes my heart feel good.
It didn’t take long to figure out where the story was going, but this is my kind of story. One where character is celebrated.
Winning means nothing if character is sacrificed to get it… If no one considers a drug dealer to be a winner, why would the world celebrate anything or anybody with less than impeccable character based on Biblical principles?
we do need to celebrate character Floyd. Least the good ones. 🙂 I totally agree about winning meaning nothing if you have to compromise yourself to get there.
What a great story on honesty and personal integrity. In a time when it seems that getting ahead at all cost and acting now and worrying about consequences later, I would like to wallpaper this for the entire world to read. 🙂
It would be a good wallpaper for sure Kim. We live in a strange world for sure. Thanks for coming by.
That’s one to remember.
I often think about the power of sowing and reaping. I think particularly about sowing in tears and reaping in joy. Sometimes the sowing is tough, but we’ve got to keep pushing forward. You will reap what you sow.
You are right Loren, and sadly that tough sowing leads us to give up too easily or quickly. “There may be pain in the night but joy comes in the morning.”
This is soooooo good Bill , too good not to share. Integrity is what will come out pure gold when our works are tried by fire. I was impressed by the man’s faithfulness to follow what the boss ask even when he did not see results. So often we just want our reward here on earth which will make us lie, cheat and steal. Great post brother.
Thanks Betty. Glad you liked it and feel free to share. I have no clue as to where it came from originally. And yes, you have to be impressed by his faithfulness through what looked to be a losing proposition for him.
Cool story
Good food for thought, Bill.Honesty is always the best policy–no matter how difficult that might be.