The Watermelon Patch

 

A friend of mine shared the story of her eleven year old daughter who is responsible for selling watermelons from the family watermelon patch.  She maintains the grounds, weeding, picking, washing and then stacking the melons to display for customers.  On a recent Saturday she sold nine watermelons at $5 each.  Sunday, the family heard a knock on the door and were surprised when a family traveling back to New York stopped to ask about the melons.  They had gone by the day before but for traveling reasons wanted to wait until the following day to purchase any, especially since they wanted five!   Melons where they lived were running $10 each.

The girl offered to take them to the patch so they could choose the ones they wanted. Agreeing, they were off, and to her delight they bought ten!  Living on a farm, the child knew and understood the monies collected went to her grandfather since he owned the farm and her "job" was part of her responsibility to help the family in all the tasks involved in making the farm successful.  Of course, at the end of the day, (or summer) a percentage of the received funds were given to her for school shopping and her pleasure, but at the time she was not aware of that.

The lessons the child learned, will remain with her the rest of her life.  She learned the importance of a job well done, but also about family.  Life is not just about one person, but about those you love and are close to.  It's about taking care of someone else and their needs before our own are addressed. It's about responsibility.  It's knowing the world does not revolved around our needs and wants alone and recognizing we didn't get where we are without the help of others!

In our world of sports events, movies, and a whole list of other extra curricular activities, family has fallen well below the "important" mark.  To ask a child to actually do something that even resembles a "chore" which seems to only benefit the family without pay, is just scandalous!

How many families do you know where responsibilities, like the little girl described above, are expected without pay?  I would suggest not many.  Most young people refuse to do anything without some kind of reward; and preferably request cash!  We have raised a culture where priorities are so skewed it is hard for young people to know what is right and wrong, what is really important, and that life does not only revolve around them!

Their young lives are so focused on what they want, where they want to go, or what they want to do, they rarely have time or even have desire to consider other people.   They are only thinking of themselves.   If this generation feels this way, the next generation will feel even more so since each generation dilutes what is learned more than the one before.

The Bible teaches us to serve.  We are instructed to have a servant attitude, taking care of another's needs before we think of our own.  Sadly, this "me" attitude isn't reserved for our young people. There are many adults who believe their needs, wants, desires, instructions, commands if you will, must be addressed before all others.  It matters not there are others with similar issues or problems, or that other people sometimes have priorities which must come before theirs!

I believe we can learn a lesson from this little girl who obviously accepted her responsibility to her parents, grandparents and all involved, and even enjoyed it, given she was so ready to take unexpected visitors out to the watermelon patch so they could choose the ones of their choice.  Are we so quick to serve? Are we ready to see to the needs of others, even if there doesn't seem to be "anything in it" for us?