Once upon a time, two friends walked side by side in a field of dreams. The field was given them to till, to plow, to tend. One sowed his seed on the right side, the other sowed his on the left side. The rains came and the sun shone, each given equal sustenance.
But something surprising occurred.
As they sowed their field of dreams, they found that one friend's seed grew taller and higher than the other's. Upon closer inspection the one with the taller plants discovered their seed was different. And so he told his friend and offered to share the superior seed. But his friend didn't care. He chose to continue to sow his seed though his was inferior and never grew taller, and only yielded blemished fruit come harvest time.
Year after year the friends continued to sow their seed and tend the same field. Year after year, one had less and less seed to resow the following year. Each year the friend whose field was on the right and who yielded more and more seed than he could possibly plant, offered seed to his friend. But with each offer, he was rebuffed.
On the ninth year, the friend with superior seed found his side of the field yielded 100 times more than his friend's on the left. In fact, his friend had only enough to survive for the winter, and none left to replant the following year. He knew his friend would not take any of his seed, so he decided not to bother him with an offer. But he planned in his heart what he'd do. He could not possibly use all his seed and if he left it stored in the barns, it would rot. So he decided to take some of it abroad and share it with those who would accept it. He left word with his servants what to do with the remaining seed and the field if he did not return before harvest.
The following Spring, the servants went out and began planting the field of dreams. While they were sowing the right side of the field, the friend with no seed became angry. He had nothing to sow in his side of the field on the left. So he went into the byways and hedges and gathered darnels, thistles and dandelions that produced thousands upon thousands of seeds faster than his friend's field could grow. Late one night, he sneaked out to the field and sprinkled the darnels, thistles and dandelions throughout the entire field. He knew the seeds would grow and multiply and fill his friend's field and choke out his harvest. If he could not achieve his dreams, then he was not about to allow his friend to achieve his.
The rains came and the sun shone on both sides of the field all summer. When the right side grew, each plant was choked out by the thistles, darnels and dandelions that grew.
Harvest time came and the friend didn't return from abroad. None of the plants his servants had sown had survived. The servants fell to their knees and wept. Soon the friend who had sown the weeds came to the right side of the field to gloat over the destruction. When he found the servants weeping, he asked, "Why do you weep? It is not you who will starve this winter, but me. Surely your master has more seed stored in his barns to survive the winter."
With tears streaming down their cheeks the servants replied, "No, he took all he had to give everyone else and left instructions for us to plant both sides of the field with his superior seed. He knew you wouldn't accept his seed, so he told us to sow both sides of the field with his seed so you would have all the bounty you needed. Only now it appears all that is left is thistles, darnels and dandelions. And those weeds have sprouted and grown on both sides of the field, so neither of us had any yield." selahV
WHEN SOME SEEDS FALL ALONG THE WAY
[© SelahV Today, hariette petersen, 2008]
