“Selling Seeds”

Even though I had followed all the instructions, worked through cold weather, wet weather, snow and any other weather-related obstacle you might have in March and April in Michigan–it just never paid off!

I’m talking about selling.  Big-time selling.  Sometimes I would get started at the end of February… house to house… all bundled up because of the cold and wind.  But, I hung in there! 

I was selling something that would enhance the home of the buyer.  All who passed by would think, “my, my, how beautiful!”  All that for 15 cents a pack.  You could buy almost any kind of flower you could imagine and the instructions came printed on the package for free!  Sometimes I even ventured out into the vegetable market as well.

All I had to do was get someone to answer the door.  The best scenario was if the lady of the house answered the door.  I made the biggest and best sales to the ladies.  I would pretend to know a little about the product.  I thought any adult who would ask a 10-year-old which flower would grow better on the north side or the south side wouldn’t know the difference what kind of soil was best to grow string beans.  My answer was: “What kind do you have?  What are you growing now?”

You see, it wasn’t about what you knew, it was about what they didn’t know!

If the lady of the house answered the door, she would always invite me in. It was kind of simple.  Find a reason she should buy something from you.  Even if she lived in an apartment and grew absolutely nothing.  Her time with me was going to make her want to invest in my product with me.

They would buy and pay for the seeds on the spot.  The paperwork was always key, because I would have to come back to the same house four to six weeks later to deliver the seeds. I was in a mess if I didn’t keep the seeds associated with the right house. 

After that process was completed, in six weeks, I would receive what I was working for in the first place – the prize. That’s where the rub would always be.  It was never as good as promised.  Never looked as good as the picture.  Most of the time it was a piece of junk. I remember some of the stuff:  a transistor radio, a science kit with a microscope, magic glasses so you could see through stuff and magic tricks.  All junk… all of it.

The packets of seeds were the real deal and in the hands of the right person they could produce all that was promised.  From beautiful flowers to tasty vegetables.  The people I sold the seed packets to got what they paid for.  I got what I worked for although in the long run my work was not a wise choice for me. 

So, the moral of this story is:  Make sure what you are working to get is worth the effort. Salvation is a free gift.  You can’t earn it.  Don’t be so quick to trade heaven away for that which glitters here on earth!

That which God offers us all is so far beyond any effort we could ever make.  It is always a wise effort to follow and do His will.

Remember: 

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Matthew 6:33 NKJV