I recently saw this little story in my organization’s newsletter. It has application in business, family, relationships, community, church, politics or any other area of life.
The Seed
A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor . . . 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.”
A 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. Everyday 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 the others were talking bout 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, “Behold your next Chief Executive? His name is Jim! Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his SEED.
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 SEE 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 one who will be the new CEO?” The moral of the story:
· 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.
In politics, for example, we should look for the person whose actions, their voting record their core beliefs and philosophy in particular, reflect or back up their campaign slogans or rhetoric.
The Seed
A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor . . . 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.”
A 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. Everyday 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 the others were talking bout 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, “Behold your next Chief Executive? His name is Jim! Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his SEED.
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 SEE 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 one who will be the new CEO?” The moral of the story:
· 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.
In politics, for example, we should look for the person whose actions, their voting record their core beliefs and philosophy in particular, reflect or back up their campaign slogans or rhetoric.
Senator Hillary Rodham-Clinton is a seething liberal, yet campaigns pretending to be a moderate or centralist. She visits black churches in the South and pretends to be a sister in the “faith.” However, her votes and her actions in support of abortion and the homosexual agenda are antithetical to basic Judeo-Christian values, to basic Christianity as found in the Judeo-Christian Bible. Another "virtue" of Senator Rodham-Clinton is her alleged vicious temper and mistreatment of staffers, which the opposite of planting goodness. What the carpetbagging New York Senator's campaign is good at nurturing is audience plants, see a related article, which I posted recently.
Likewise, Barack Hussein Obama, too, denies his Muslim raised background and that he, too, is claims to be a "Christian" trying to woe the black Christian voter. However, like Senator Rodham-Clinton he buys and sells the radical anti-God liberal Democrat Party platform. In fact, most, if not all of the Democrat Party presidential candidates are extreme socialists who want to tear down American values and destroy our Christian nation.
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