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April 14, 2008

The parable of the field

This is a true story, told to me by Pastor Pierre:

In a certain village among the Gourma people, when it is harvest time, all the young people will first go and harvest the field of the village chief, before going to harvest their own fields.

The young men harvested the millet, and the young women then gathered up the heads of grain to take back to the compound of the village chief. The men laboured through the heat of the day, and finished harvesting the whole field by nightfall.

The village chief was watching the women gathering up heavy loads of grain in large bowls on their heads to bring back to his grain store. But he noticed that there was one lazy woman, who would only gather a little each time.

Towards the end of the day, he spoke to the women and said:
“Hey, you see how hard the men have been working. They have finished harvesting the whole field. Now, before you go home, I want each of you to make a special effort to bring one more really big load of grain.”

The women went off, and piled the grain high. They came back straining under the load. But the lazy girl just gathered a small amount as usual. When they arrived back at the chief’s yard, and were about to unload their grain, he stopped them.

“Thank you for your hard work today,” he said. “The load you are now carrying is for you to take home with you, as my thanks for what you have done today.”

All the women who had made a special effort to fully load their bowls laughed, and headed home with their reward. But the lazy one was ashamed to go home with the evidence of her laziness. She tried to pour out her load for the chief.

“No!” said the chief. “You will take home what you have worked, so that everyone can see how lazy you are!”

(cf 1Cor 3:8)

Posted by Keith at April 14, 2008 05:29 PM