Tobacco, Corn, Cows, and Plows

Corn

 

 

We have been discussing "Four Rules for Life" and today I want to talk about #2 "Plant your corn early."

 

In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon made a similar statement to this rule:

 

6 Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don't know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both. (New Living Translation)

 

 

Growing up in Snellville, GA we did not have a large farm but the garden was large enough. I remember that my parents would plant a different variety of beans (loved picking those butter peas! - sarcasm button pressed here), tomatoes, squash, and depending on the forecast and the previous year's harvest they would determine how much if any of these to plant.

 

There was one crop that was a "given" every year: corn. And it was generally one of the first seeds placed into the ground. White corn and yellow corn that had unique names like "trucker's favorite" or "silver queen" and anywhere from one-quarter to one-half of the garden was planted in corn every year. Why?

 

Corn is versatile and a staple in many of the foods that we eat and now, thanks to government regulations, it is also part of some of the gasoline that we put into our tanks (processing food for the stomach for our vehicles instead of our neighbors? Another topic for another blog! :-) )

 

"Plant your corn early" and Solomon's advice of "plant your seed early in the morning and keep busy all afternoon" is an easy way to remember the following about life and living:

 

1) "Plant early" because you do not know what the weather holds in the future.

 

I have two children and I think about "planting early" when it comes to teaching them about the issues of life. Solomon in Proverbs stated it like this:

 

Proverbs 22:6

6 Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it. (NLT)

 

As parents we must "plant early" in the lives of our children because as the weeds of the world and the rocks of rebellion begin to fill the tender soil of their heart then it will be much tougher to plant seed that will produce a righteous harvest.

 

My wife and I started planting seed in our children as infants. We would play bible story cd's, worship music, and even the bible on cd as they would go to sleep. My son is 9 and my daughter is 5 now and they still ask for this every night and I am amazed at what they have retained by these simple seeds that have been planted.

 

2) Since we cannot predict the future we need to "plant early and often" in our relationships, businesses, and other daily affairs because we do not know which will produce a harvest or a bust.

 

I taugh in a private Christian school for over 8 years. In my relationships with students I tried to plant seeds of not just a teacher-student relationship but also seeds of friendship that when they had grown and graduated from high school they would know that I was not only a teacher they had who taught them academics (sometimes not real well!) but someone who was genuinely interested in their development as young adults and now adults.

 

There were a few students who no matter how early or often we planted seeds and tried to water and fertilize they were just not going to produce that long term relationship we was trying to attain. If I had only planted those seeds then I would look back at my teaching career with fulitity.

 

But because the Lord keep pressing me and pushing me to keep sowing into the lives of those He placed in my path there were many other seeds of that long term relationship that have produced a great harvest as I see they have grown and matured into responsible adults who I not only am proud to say they were a "former student" but now I can also say they are my friends.

 

Plant your corn early, often, and in great abundance... because you never know which seeds will take and produce a great harvest!

 

Until nex time... God bless!