An insignificant $100,000 part 1 (Series on Endurance part 4)
Posted by Cheryl Lange on November 28, 2011
They grow best in the dark with a cover over them.
The hardwood forest protects them and provides just the right nutrients and environment for them to grow perfectly.
Last year the West Virginia Division of Forestry said the average selling price per pound was $445!
No we’re not a talking about jewels or rare animals but a ginseng plant.
The demand for them continues to rise and so farming ginseng is very profitable.
And a plant can live up to 80 years!
But there’s a catch.
You don’t have a harvest year 1.
Nor year 2 or 4 or 5.
If the plant grows well, you can harvest it after 7 -10 years.
But the wait is worthwhile.
The value of a ½ acre of ginseng root at harvest is worth up to $100,000!
It takes a lot of work and patience to get to that fantastic return.
But most things of value do.
We’ve been talking about the spiritual quality of Endurance and I thought we could learn some from the world of agriculture.
The middle section of Galatians 6 is not only spiritual Truth but farming principles as well.
Verse 7 says: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
If asked, a farmer would laugh at this obvious truth.
“Of course you can’t get corn from a cotton seed!”
And you can’t get spiritual growth from self rule or flesh work either. But unlike farmers, we keep thinking we can get away with it.
Paul continues his writing using the agricultural picture.
He gets to the goal of the hard work in verse 9.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
An explanation of the Greek words used here may give us a deeper understanding of what Paul meant.
The word “weary” refers to farm workers who might be tempted to back off and quit their hard work because they are exhausted from the long hours and back breaking unending work – with no fruit to show for it.
(Boy, does this describe my wimpy attitude at many times in my life!)
“Doing good” doesn’t mean occasionally or when we feel like it. The word means habitually, as our regular way of life.
The words “give up” actually mean to faint like field workers might do after long sweaty hours in the hot sun doing physically hard work.
So God is saying that just like a farmer (Of ginseng or wheat or tomatoes) we need to keep working hard at what He has called us to do – and have a habit of doing it – no matter how long or boring or repetitive or challenging it is or unfruitful it appears.
Ahh, then we get to the harvest we have been working and waiting so long for.
But the essential element to a great harvest is timing.
And we’ll talk about that next time.
