Sunday, August 25, 2013

First Fruits

Today was a lesson of "first fruits."  The preservation of life lies within the basic family unit.  Preservation of the family unit requires knowledge in the application of seeds. The "first fruits" are the harvest of knowledge applied as the nutrients and fertilizer of those seeds. 
Prior to the hybridization of seeds, our grandparents survived by taking a portion of their crops and using the seeds from them to plant crops the following year. Most of our grandparents understood this concept, however, unfortunately, most of us know nothing about it. Our grandparents used open-pollination seeds (seeds that are not genetically engineered not to reproduce).
Hybridization has been a boon to mass production in crops, but has it's down sides.  These seeds can no longer reproduce themselves and they also have changes to their colors, size and nutrient concentrations. 
This lesson was made clear to me today as I looked out over the expanse of a farmer's field while riding horseback with my family.  The basic unit of development in life is the family. It is where the lessons of life are taught and where knowledge is applied and becomes wisdom. Is it the only place this can occur? No. However, it is the most effective. My wife and I have been striving for more self sufficiency in our lives. We have been looking to improve the self sufficiency of our family and children. 
This morning we got a chance to talk about those seeds figuratively with the family.  Our children our our "first fruits" and helping them to become self sufficient is a liberating feeling. 
It was a majestic Arizona morning, the temperatures were wonderful and the horses were calm 

Sunday, August 18, 2013

The great danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that our aim is too low and we reach it.