Reb Rev's Blog

“And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” – James 3:18 ESV

I came across the following story recently and it reminded of many of the things we teach in leadership. However, it is certainly a beneficial truth for many areas of our lives.

It seems there was a farmer who was well known for his blue ribbon winning corn. In fact, he became somewhat of a local celebrity for his corn growing abilities. Once, a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

“Why do share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.

“Why sir,” said the farmer, “don’t you know? The wind spreads pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”

 He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor’s corn also improves.

 John Maxwell calls this adding value to the lives of others. So many folks try to make their way up by tearing others down, it is sometimes easy to get drawn into that way of thinking. However, by adding value to the lives of others, you find the benefits really come back to you as well. 

If you want to live well, you must help others to live well. In order to pursue happiness, help others find happiness. The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.

This entry was posted on October 2, 2009 at 1:30 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.