The Fruit of Truth

I don’t like gardening. 

It’s a little slow for me.  It takes careful effort and patience.   I am sure there is a blog entry somewhere there about diligence.  For the sake of this entry though, we’ll be concentrating on inputs and outputs regardless of time.  

I spent most of my youthful years in South Florida.  We have pretty fertile land and a nice climate.  Unfortunately, I spent very little time in nature and didn’t develop an interest in cultivation.  However, I do appreciate what it takes to do that type of work.

My Favorite Gardener

My mom is recently retired.  She’s developed a “green thumb”.  I couldn’t pass up using solid colloquialism.  The last few times I have been to her house she’s given me a tour of her garden.  It’s not a huge area.  But, it is impressive.  She has all kinds of herbs and plants that are beautifully pruned.  I even went home with some to cook with.  I asked her about how she grows them and where she gets the seeds.  The key factor that I noticed is that it doesn’t matter where any of it came from.  The most important part is the quality of effort that she puts in.  

Mom was always a hard worker (she actually worked for me for a few years) no matter what her job was.  It’s not surprising that she has succeeded in her new hobby.  I can tell it’s rewarding for her to yield some useable herbs and even send me home with some.  Each one is a little different and takes a different type of care.  Every time she adds a new one it’s a different process and learning experience.  Yet, the effort never changes.

Hardwork

This could easily turn into a motivational plea.  However, I’d prefer it to be more of a thought provoking read.  I certainly believe in giving top notch effort wherever one can.  It’s noble and it puts you beyond where most will go.

Hard work is important not only because you want to get ahead but also because it shows that you care deeply about something.  I believe that it also shows you believe in the sincerity of something.  

We live in a broken world.  I think that situation has manifested itself uniquely over the past decade.  Those with bad intentions are often looking for shortcuts.  They are looking for a quick fix to their own situation. 

My mom could easily purchase the herbs and plants she grows from the store.  But, what if she couldn’t afford them?  She would then have to grow them like she is or she would have to steal them (or something else immoral).  I know that she is putting in sincere effort.    Imagine if it was more serious matter.  It’s not acceptable, but it’s understandable why some people skip the handwork and search for the quick win regardless of what their conscience might say.

If you find yourself looking for an abnormally fast or convenient result to something, consider your motives.

Harvesting

I would imagine that the most rewarding part of farming is the harvest.  It’s the summation of all the handwork you’ve put in to raise your crops.  

In the backyard of the house that my wife grew up in is a big apple tree.  It produces these little green not-so-edible apples that start falling off the tree later in the summer.  There must be hundreds of them that fall every year.  My nieces and nephew always love to pick them up and pull some directly from the tree.  By the end of their visit to their grandparents house, there is a layer of “applesauce” under the tree from all the stomping, go-cart racing,  sports, and games that take place on top of the fallen apples.  You can even smell the results when you open up the patio door.  

In a way, the kids are reaping the harvest without putting in the work.  I can’t fault the kids though.  Yet, I have thought about if they understand how more care taken to the tree would provide better result.   

Shortcut Seeds

I don’t question the moral intentions of my nieces and nephews and their favorite apple tree.  They are just looking for something fun to play with in the backyard.  However, I am always skeptical of people who seek self-serving results without putting in the work.  They are lying to themselves and lying to the people around them.  It’s deceitful.  They want the easy way to do something.  

My mom’s garden started with some honest seeds and she’s reaping the benefits.  Unfortunately, the stakes in life are often higher and people will take drastic measures to achieve a warped definition of success.  They plant seeds of deception as they try to find shortcuts.

Shorthanded

It’s time for my weekly sports reference.  We go to the ice.  In hockey, when a player commits a penalty, they go to the penalty box.  Minor penalties in the National Hockey League (NHL) last for two minutes and are over immediately, if the other teams scores.   The team with the penalized player is said to be “shorthanded” or “on the penalty kill”.  The opposing team is “on the power play”.  It’s quite an advantage to have an extra player on the ice.  I suppose this is why the penalty is over if the team scores.  Major penalties last five minutes and the team with the advantage can score as many times as possible in that span without the penalty ended. 

In some cases, a minor penalty is understandable as a player may be giving extreme effort and commit an infraction as a result of effort.  A major penalty is serious and there is no excuse for that type of action.  Mal-intent is generally considered in the case of a major penalty.  The player is trying to injure the opposition or get some sort of illegal advantage.  They and their team deserve to be punished.  Their deceitful seed should not bear fruit of truth.

A major penalty often results in a long term disadvantage for the penalized team even if it seemed like the penalized action was going to provide a short term advantage.

Skating on Thin Ice

If you find yourself skating on thin ice or taking excessive risk in our efforts, something is wrong.  As humans, we are not set up to plant seeds of deceit.  We are meant to work consistently and honestly.

Part of growth and success in the journey of an impactmaker is learning how to do things.  The best organizations and movements are willing to learn all of the aspects of their cause.  There is urgency to find solutions.  But, there is no haste.  The risks of missing something are too high.  

There is no single metric, number, recognition that should be sought over the longterm stability of your impact project, business, or faith community.  You can’t skate on thin ice to reach one point on the other side of the pond.  If you fall in, it’s over.  If you’re a little slower in reaching the other side, its okay.  You know how to get there and you can show others.  Your experience outweighs the result.  

In Season

At the end of the summer any family up at the house with the apple tree usually goes home.  Another season has past.  The cycle is complete and the apple tree needs time to rest.  The fall comes and the apply sauce permeates through the soil and eventually freezes over.  

A few times that I have been up to the house in the fall and early winter we’ve had some baked goods from Bayne’s Apple Valley.  They have pies, strudels, cookies, doughnuts, and all kinds of other apple inspired items.  I was always told that it’s an amazing place, but it’s seasonal.  It was normally closed when I was there.  

My most recent trip up to the house was different.  I had a chance to visit  Bayne’s.  Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect.  What could they possibly have at an apple bakery?  There’s an apple that drops plenty of fruit in the back the house.  We should plant a couple more trees and start our own apple business.  Bayne’s was more than an orchard.  They have a bakery, cafe, tap house, and store that has all kinds of locally sources items.  It was purchased by a family in 2017 and it’s clear that they put some effort into the company.  I would be curious to know some statistics about how many apples they harvest and use every year.  There are clearly no shortcuts. 

Luck is Deceit

It could be easy to assign some luck to successful organizations.  I think there is a semblance of timing.  Yet, sustainable success requires experience and we know from E-Impact 43 that with experience comes wisdom.  Wisdom yields the fruit of truth.  It shows us exactly how things happen.  There is no substitute.  Contrastingly, luck lies to us.  It gives us a false sense of accomplishment.  We think skating on thin ice is worth it or committing an illegal act won’t result in a major penalty.  

Bearing the Fruit of Truth

It can take an apple tree eight years to begin bearing fruit.

In an unexpected similarity, luck and experience work in the same process to teach us.  We connect our initial effort and the result and often don’t take into account everything in between.  If you take a deceitful risk and are lucky enough to reach your goal, you associate the risk directly with the result and are more likely to do it again.  This is bad.  The good news is that it works the same with wisdom.  It just takes longer.  If you took the safer, longer way across the pond, you would associate your initial steps (or skates?) with the path to the other side.  This is important to note because there is a compounding effect.  If you habitually plant seeds of truth, those who are with you and those who come after you will be provided with fruitful wisdom as they experience the same path as you.  This is vital to a successful organization.  On the other side, if you show that seeds of deceit yield success, you are setting up people for a rotten harvest. 

Sow seeds of truth and grow a meaningful orchard of impact.