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Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest
are faithful messengers to those who send them;
they refresh the spirit of their masters.
— Proverbs 25:13
There was once a man who owned many large properties. And he put capable
men over them all in order to make each one profitable. This was before
the days of good law in these parts, and so the men who tended the land
were very often also the keepers of law and order.
One of his properties was in a territory way to the west of here. The
property was huge, with lots of good farming land, and mountains and
several forested areas. It had plenty of pastureland, and so there the man
raised lots of cattle. All of the property was well watered by a river and
several creeks. Springs also flowed up out of the rocks, watering the
hills and some of the open places.
After a few years, outlaws came in and took possession of this land. They
killed the men in charge, and took the land for themselves. All the hired
workers of the land were forced to stay and work for nothing. They were
not allowed any of the cattle for meat, any grain for bread, or milk for
butter and cheese. They were only allowed to grow and eat potatoes. In
effect, they and their families had become slaves.
And this went on for quite a while because in those days, news traveled
very slowly, and the owner was in another state far to the south and east.
But when no messengers, no letters, and no news at all arrived after a
long time, the man who owned the land realized that something was wrong.
He sent a couple of his own good men to see what had happened. A couple of
months later he received their letter:
“Your property has been taken over by outlaws. The workers and their
families have been forced to stay and work the land as slaves. The
managers you hired have all been killed.”
The two men waited for word as to what they should do.
The owner sent word to the marshal of the territory, asking for help. But
the marshal was tied up with other troubles far to the south, and would be
unable to get help to the man’s property for a long while. So the man sent
word, telling his two good men to hire some help from the nearby towns,
and to take the land back.
And this might've worked out well except that there were not many
settlements or towns nearby. The only ones around were very small, and
they were somewhat loyal to the outlaws, because the outlaw’s relatives
and friends also ran the little towns. The local "help" hired by the two
good men were quick to rob them and kill them once they got up into the
hills.
After a long while, the owner of the property realized that again
something had gone wrong. And so he sent others out.
This time he sent more of his own men and hired help from his own area. He
sent out a band of eleven good and trustworthy men. And they arrived at
the property a couple of months later.
His men were all capable fighting men. But the enslaved workers had been
told to set a trap for them, making it easy for the outlaws to surprise
and kill them. The workers wanted very much to be free, but the outlaws
had taken their children and threatened to kill them if the adults did not
obey. So they did as they were told.
One of the eleven had been left behind in a nearby town, to send word just
in case things went bad. Things went bad. And when he learned of the
massacre, he wrote a letter to the owner, giving him the bad news.
At about that time the owner’s son returned from war in another land, and
he soon heard of all the trouble. He told his father that he would take
care of the problem. So the man sent his own good son, along with what
amounted to a small army of good fighting men to settle the problem.
After a long journey, the son arrived, riding with his men right into the
middle of the property. The workers came out again to trick the men, but
the son sent some of his men with the adults, and they found and released
their children, herding all the people away to a safe place. Then he and
his men rode up to the main house and surrounded the outlaws. Victory went
to the son right away. He rounded up all the outlaws, and sent them off
with half his men to the territorial marshal to be tried for murder and
other crimes.
When the news got out, some of the people from the nearby towns rode out
to avenge their relatives and friends. But they were quickly defeated,
also, and some were even killed. Those who survived decided to go home and
stay alive.
Rather than install new managers, the good son remained for awhile as head
over the property. He built a new house for himself, and houses for those
who helped him run and protect the place. He also did some good things for
the people who had been used as forced labor by the outlaws. He released
them all, of course. And he paid them back wages, plus damages for all the
work they had been forced to do. And he offered free land and a house for
each family.
He told them, “This, my father’s land, is now also my own land. I will
give each family 50 acres and a house of your own. Choose your spot,
anywhere on my good land, and I will give it to you. If you don’t want to
stay and work the land, then I will pay you the equivalent, and you can go
buy property and a house wherever you want.”
More than half the families decided to continue working for the father and
his son. They were given good land, and each of them received a new house.
A new schoolhouse was also built for all the children, and several of the
women began to take turns teaching. The son also paid the expenses to have
a couple of new stores opened in the nearest town, to better supply the
families with needed items.
But some of the families just wanted to get away. They wanted to get a
place of their own, away from the big property altogether. They took their
pay and bought places of their own. With all the money the son had given
them for back wages, and damages, and for land, and for a house, these
families were able to do well for themselves. Some of these families
traveled back east, or to other parts of the country. But a few settled a
few miles away.
Years went by and things seemed to go pretty well for most everyone.
But then several years of drought settled in. The crops began to fail. And
the streams began to dry up. Some of the springs also ceased to flow, and
others slowed to a trickle. Times were hard then. The cattle were not
reproducing well, and some were dying off.
One day the son called his youngest worker into the big house and said to
him, “I’m very concerned for the families who moved away. Many of them
have almost no food at all. And some have small children. I haven’t much
to offer, since the times are hard, but I’m sending you with what I have.”
“Yes, sir,” the young man said.
The good son went on to say. “The potatoes are about the only thing that
seemed to hold up this year. I can send a small amount of wheat, a little
cheese, and a good supply of potatoes.”
So the young worker loaded up a wagon with fresh potatoes and small
amounts of wheat and cheese for each of those families who had their own
lands. He took the food out to the families, and they were very glad to
receive it because they had very little food. He made several trips, until
all the families had been supplied.
In the spring, the son sent the young man out again. This time he only had
potatoes because the wheat and the cheese were gone. And the people were
glad for the food, but not as happy when they saw that there would be no
cheese or wheat. They were getting very tired of eating only potatoes.
Later that year, when the north winds began to blow cold, the good son
once again called the young worker back to the big house. "You worked hard
during the harvest," he told the young man. "And you know that we reaped
very little wheat or corn or beans this year. Again, only the potatoes did
well. But I've heard that the other farms did even worse. The families
will starve if we don't help them."
And so they loaded the wagon with a great pile of potatoes. And they also
put small amounts of wheat and cheese and corn and beans in sacks for each
family. In fact, the good son had even divided up his own portion of these
more desirable things for the sake of the growing children in the
families.
And the young worker went around to the properties, taking all that the
son had given. But the response from many of them was not what he had
expected. Some of the men, because times were so hard, had lost all hope.
They had turned to drinking, wasting what little they had.
When the wagon came to some of the homes, then, the young man was driven
away before he could even say anything or give them anything. But as he
went away, he stopped at the fence lines of those properties, and set down
the bags of food the families would need. He knew that the women or the
children would soon find it and take it back to the house, rather than
starve.
And at some other places, the people mocked the young worker and the good
son who had sent him.
“Why do you bring us all these potatoes, boy?”
“What’s the matter with that stupid boss of yours?”
“These potatoes are useless as food. Keep them and make them into
something good — something to drink! Then we will have a big party, and we
will even drink to you and your stupid boss!”
The young man didn’t know what to say to such comments, so he just laughed
along with them as he handed down the portions of potatoes and other food
to the children to take inside. At least these people, he thought to
himself, do not try to chase me away.
Only a few of the families were grateful for the food, and made no bad
remarks about the potatoes. And for these, the young worker was very
thankful. He knew that the times were hard, and that many people were
bitter. But the complaining and quarrelling made nothing better.
When the spring skies turned blue and the sun moved higher into the sky,
the day came around for more wagonloads of potatoes to go out. The young
man was not eager to see this time arrive. He hadn’t told the son about
how the people were acting, or any of the terrible things some of them had
said about his generosity.
“Well, here we are,” said the son. “I want to share whatever we have with
the outlying families.” But he could see the troubled look on the young
worker’s face. And he pressed the young man to tell him what was wrong,
and so the worker told the son everything.
“You must not let this trouble you at all," the son answered. "The hard
times make human hearts bitter. We must do whatever we can to help them
through this. You’re doing a good work. Do not become discouraged or
bitter yourself. We’ll simply continue to do whatever we can.”
And so the young worker went around again with the wagonloads of potatoes
to all the families. But things did not go well for him. Many of the men
and women, and even the children, took the potatoes only to throw them
back at the young man and the horses that pulled the wagon. Of course the
horses responded by rearing up and running. The wagon nearly flipped over
twice. As it was, the young man spent much of his time picking up sacks of
food and all the potatoes that had spilled from the bouncing and rocking
wagon.
When he returned to the barn late that evening, he was bruised and weary,
and the horses were still jumpy. The other workers saw this, and word got
back to the good son who owned the land. He called all the workers
together and encouraged them. And told the young man that he was fortunate
to have suffered for doing well. The young worker did not understand why
he should count himself fortunate to be mistreated, but he was grateful
for the encouragement.
For three more years the drought and the famine continued. And twice a
year the young worker would take the food, such as it was, around to the
families in need. Sometimes there would be a little more grain or a few
more beans. Maybe a little more cheese if the cattle fared well. And
sometimes these things were in shorter supply. But always the potatoes did
well. And they seemed to be in even a greater abundance whenever the other
crops were leaner.
Some of the people grew more and more bitter, throwing rocks instead of
potatoes, and bitterly cursing the young man and the son who sent him. But
others gradually grew quieter, and more resolved to get through this
difficult time, and they become more grateful for the food that was being
offered. They shared new recipes with each other, and laughed about all
the ways they had learned to prepare potatoes. It struck the young worker
as very interesting how the dry years were changing people in very
different ways.
That was many years ago, of course.
The drought finally gave way to good rain again in spring and summer, and
to deep snow through the winter months. The land was reborn and became
green again. So unbelievably green everywhere. Wild flowers bloomed on the
hills and in the mountains that had not been seen for many years. Soon
many folks forgot all about the years of hard drought.
But some did not. The people who were most bitter had already left before
the rains came again, going back to whatever place they had come from. And
they took their bitter memories with them.
Others, however, had already taken hold of a new hope, somehow, even
before the rains returned. And when the good years finally did come, these
people celebrated every abundant harvest with a genuine spirit of
thanksgiving. They praised the God of heaven and earth for sparing them
during the terrible dry years.
And they brought gifts every year to the good son who had sustained them
during the bitterest years. He joyfully accepted each gift, and then
shared the gifts with all the families who still lived within his
boundaries. Then everyone gathered in feasting and dancing that would last
for a whole week.
More years went by and the time finally came for the son to take charge of
all his father’s other lands, and so he left to visit them, and to manage
the whole estate. By this time the youngest worker had grown into a mature
worker. And this faithful man was now put in charge of the whole property,
to manage it and care for it.
“I always reward those who do well,” the son told his new manager. “You
were faithful to do all that I gave you to do, even when it was difficult
and dangerous. And so, because you were faithful in the smaller things, I
now give you a much greater work to do. You will have charge of all this
land. And you will always answer only to me.”
The faithful worker thought about this for a moment.
“I already know what I want to do first,” he said. “Now that we have
railroads nearby, I will market our potatoes to the whole nation. They
grow well here, but the people here want to eat something besides
potatoes. We will ship our potatoes back east, and to the south, and to
the west. The money they bring in will be used to buy other things that
must be shipped in from far away.”
The good son just laughed. He knew that the faithful worker had probably
spent many hours thinking about what to do with all those potatoes —
especially if there should ever be another long hard drought as he had
already experienced. He gave the new manager a slap on the back, and
together they walked outside.
The Scripture says:
"His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful
servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler
over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.... ...For to everyone
who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who
does not have, even what he has will be taken away.'"
— from Matthew 25:23,29
©2004 Jim Sutton |
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