The Parable of Two Farmers

The Parable of Two Farmers 

Once there were two farmers. One was old and wise. He tended his plants with care. Though he only had a small farm, he was known for selling the best fruit. They were always perfectly ripe, but not too ripe. Each piece had wonderful flavor and were desired by all the towns people. The other was a younger farmer who had a very large farm. Most of his fruit was delicious, and after harvest he made a lot of money off of his abundant crop. However, there was always some fruit that was rotten, and others were unripe. He was always disappointed about these few fruits that went to waste.  knew about the fruit of the Old Farmer. He too wanted every single piece of fruit to be perfect. 

The Young Farmer went to the Old Farmer to ask for advice, "how can I have perfect fruit like you?" The Old Farmer chuckled and replied that his farm was too large to have perfect fruit. "You must know every piece of fruit in order for every piece to be perfect, you must spend time with the fruit as it grows."  The Young Farmer was grateful for the advice, and decided to try to make his fruit perfect too. The next year the Young Farmer had the same results as the previous year. Angry, he went to the Old Farmer, and said it did not work. "Some of my fruit is rotten, and some are still not ripe!"

 The old farmer lead him to is own fields. You could tell that there were still some green fruits hanging on the vines. "The rotten fruit you did not pick soon enough. They were perfect weeks ago, so I have already ate them or sold them. These others are not ready yet, I will pick them when they have turned red. It is not their fault they are still green, in time they will be just as delicious as the ones I picked today. Every single piece of fruit is perfect if you eat it when it is ready. If you do not eat it when it is ready, you will think it is inferior, but it is not. You just failed to recognize it at its best."

The Young Farmer was astonished. His goal was to make a profit, to have every single piece of fruit ready when the hired hands came. "I do not have time to let every single fruit ripen when the rest are ready! Nor do I want to hunt for those who are ready early! I would be better off letting the early ones rot on the vine with the late ones. They can be left for the birds."

The Old Farmer smiled, "My goal was never to make money as a farmer, it was to eat delicious fruit. To do that, I must wait for the fruit to be perfect. I cannot rush the ones who ripen later, or hold back the ones that are early. I enjoy every single one at its best. Fruit is never inferior if I pick them when they are ready. Every single one is perfect."