*BOILED SEED SPROUTING
An aging king woke up one day to the realisation that should he drop dead,
there would be no male in the royal family to take his place. He was the
last male in the royal family in a culture where only a male could succeed
to the throne - and he was aging. He decided that if he could not give birth
to a male, he would adopt a son who then could take his place but he
insisted that such an adopted son must be extraordinary in every sense of
the word. So he launched a competition in his kingdom, open to all boys, no
matter what their background. Ten boys made it to the every top. There was
little to separate these boys in terms of intelligence and physical
attributes and capabilities. The king said to them, "I have one last test
and whoever comes top will become my adopted son and heir to my throne."
Then he said, "This kingdom depends solely on agriculture. So the king must
know how to cultivate plants. So here is a seed of corn for each of you.
Take it home and plant and nurture it for three weeks. At the end of three
weeks, we shall see who has done the best job of cultivating the seed. That
person will be my heir-apparent."
The boys took their seeds and hurried home. They each got a flower pot and
planted the seed as soon as they got home. There was much excitement in the
kingdom as the people waited with bated breath to see who was destined to be
their next king. In one home, the boy and his parents were almost
heartbroken when after days of
intense care, the seed failed to sprout. He did not know what had gone wrong
with his. He had selected the soil carefully, he had applied the right
quantity and type of fertilizer, he had been very dutiful in watering it at
the right intervals, he had even prayed over it day and night and yet his
seed had turned out to be unproductive.
Some of his friends advised him to go and buy a seed from the market and
plant that. "After all," they said, "how can anyone tell one seed of corn
from another?" But his parents who had always taught him the value of
integrity reminded him that if the king wanted them to plant any corn, he
would have asked them to go for their own seed. "If you take anything
different from what the king gave you, that would be dishonesty. Maybe we
are not destined for the
throne. If so, let it be but don't be found to have deceived the king," they
told him.
The d-day came and the boys returned to the palace each of them proudly
exhibiting a very fine corn seedling. It was obvious that the other nine
boys had had great success with their seeds. The king began making his way
down the line of eager boys and asked each of them, "Is this what came out
of the seed I gave you?" And each boy responded, "Yes, your majesty." And
the king would nod and move down the line. The king finally got to the last
boy in the line-up. The boy was shaking with fear. He knew that the king was
going to have him thrown into prison for wasting his seed.
"What did you do with the seed I gave you?" the king asked.
"I planted it and cared for it diligently, your majesty, but alas it failed
to sprout." the boy said tearfully as the crowd booed him.
But the king raised his hands and signaled for silence. Then he said, "My
people, behold your next king." The people were confused. "Why that one?"
many asked. "How can he be the right choice?" The king took his place on his
throne with the boy by his side and said, "I gave these boys boiled seeds.
This test was not for cultivating corn. It was the test of character; a test
of integrity. It was the ultimate test. If a king must have one quality, it
must be that he should be above dishonesty. Only this boy passed the test. A
boiled seed cannot sprout."
We live in a society that has become obsessed with success and many show
success at any cost. We say the end justifies the means. It is the tragedy
of life. You see, failure often is an invitation to God to show that he is
all-powerful and does not need help to make us great or to bless us. You
know, sometimes God looks for people who will trust him completely no matter
what so he could show the world that it is not by might or by power but by
his spirit. God sometimes ordains failure.
But many seek to circumvent divinely ordained failure by resorting to
dubious means.
I believe that we have all been given lives to lead according to God's plan
and if we are living faithfully, we should all have different results. For
instance, I believe that not all marriages are meant to have children. I
believe that some women would stand before God with their children and God
would say, "That's strange. I did not give you and your husband children so
how did you get these?" I believe that not every student should make it to
the university. So, many would stand before God with their certificates and
God would say, "Now that is strange. How did you get to the university when
I closed the door to the university to you?"
*
*Boiled seed does not sprout. *
--
'Unless you change what you do, you will always have what you've got.'
- Jim Rohn
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"tribewithavibe" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/tribewithavibe?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
