Pollination

 

Once upon a time an old man spread rumors that his neighbor was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was proven innocent of all charges. After being released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him. In court, the old man told the Judge, “They were just comments – didn’t harm anyone.” The judge, before passing sentence on the case told the old man, “Write all the things you said about the young man on a piece of paper. Cut that piece of paper into many small pieces and on your home, I want you to throw those small pieces of paper out of your car window as you drive down the street. Tomorrow come back to hear my sentence on your case.” The next day the judge told the old man, “Before receiving your sentence, I want you to go out and gather up all the little pieces of paper you carelessly tossed out your car window on your way home yesterday.” The old man protested, “I can’t do that! The wind has probably spread them everywhere and I won’t know where to find them!” The judge instructed, “In the same way simple comments may destroy the honor of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it. If you can’t speak well of someone, don’t speak at all. We must all be masters of our mouths, so we won’t end up slaves of our words.” The judge continued, “Gossips are worse than thieves because they steal another person’s dignity, honor, reputation, and credibility which can be impossible to restore. So, remember this: When your feet slip, you can recover your balance and stay upright. But when your tongue slips, you cannot recover your words.”

An ambitious farmer, unhappy about the yield of his crops, heard of a highly recom­mended new seed corn. He bought some and produced a crop that was so abundant his as­tonished neighbors asked him to sell them a portion of the new seed. But the farmer, afraid that he would lose a profitable com­petitive advantage, refused. The second year the new seed did not produce as good a crop, and when the third-year crop was still worse it dawned upon the farmer that his prize corn was being pollinated by the inferior grade of corn from his neighbors’ fields. In a lot of ways, we aren’t all that different from the farmer. We look for ways to im­prove our condition. We look for guidance. We try out the newest ideas and advice. We set goals and resolutions. We read self-help books. However, no matter how much we implement improvements, there is something that will always work against us until we do something to fix it. The problem is our neigh­bors’ crops. Confused? Let me explain. The farmer had an opportunity to sur­round his crops with a quality product. Unfortunately, instead of his good crop in­fluencing the bad, the bad crop negatively influenced his good crop through pollination.

[1 Corinthians 15:33] These exact things can happen to us spiritually if we aren’t careful. The Scripture details out the problem, “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’” and, “Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases (Proverbs 26:20). The people we surround ourselves with can do incredible things to build us. They can also do horrendous damage to our good morals. Whether this is through evange­lism or cutting out bad influences, we need good people around us. Don’t think bad friends are impacting you? This is exactly why we are warned to “not be deceived.”

We have little control over the circumstances of life. We can’t control the weather or the economy, and we can’t control what people say about or do to us. But we can control our wellbeing. “The heart of every problem is the problem in the heart.” - Warren Wiersbe