There once was a farmer on the side of the road mending his fence. The preacher happened to drive by and saw his friend, the farmer, on the side of the road working on the fence. The preacher pulls down the window to talk to the farmer. After a warm greeting, the preacher praises the farmers farm and says “Wow, God has really blessed you with an amazing farm” The farmer responds by first thanking the farmer for his good words but then responds to the preacher. “God has definitely blessed me with a beautiful farm but you should have seen the farm when God took care of it” The preacher then had his sermon for next week.
This is a paraphrase of the story of the farmer from Earl Nightingale’s radio and video piece called the Strangest Secret. This story is a great reminder of the way things happen and the way we tend to think things happen.
Normal and average way of thinking – We all will think like this at times
- Some people are lucky
- Some people are gifted more than others, and that is why they do more
- Some people are called by God
- Some people have it easy
Higher form of thinking – We need to think like this more!
- There are events that happen that are not normal, they are miraculous
- Some people use the talents that God gave them and, by discipline, cultivate their skills to levels no one has ever seen before.
- All are called by God
- No one has it easy
Just as the farmer had to put in the work, so must each person put in the work. In the Bible, God placed Adam in the garden to farm it and tend to its production. When Jesus gave the parable of the talents, he definitely approved of the ones who used their talents and went for it.
In the story of the farmer mentioned above, the preacher’s sermon the next Sunday probably ended by saying something like. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few!” The farmer knows this secret, to harvest more, he has to plant more! to have a better farm, he has to improve it! The secret happens to be strange because it is so simple! God gave us the authority, now it is up to each one to go out and work!
