LIFE AND BUSINESS FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A FARMER
When it comes to life, there are no set rules on how to go
about life, there is no proven formula to hack this thing called life,
however there are principles and habits we can develop and live every day towards
achieving set goals.
Last year, I wrote about Living life as a chef Here, it is a method I try to use in every day situations and how I view life so as not to lose my sanity when things go the wrong way. Last Sunday, I went to church after a long while and I happened to listen to Pastor Paul Adefarasin of House on the Rock church, honestly speaking Pastor Paul is one man I can sit through his sermons without blinking my eyes or rolling them, he is a realistic and logical preacher who is not here to ask you to pray billions into your account when you have not worked for it.
Part of sermon on Sunday was about us humans being made in the image and likeness of God and how God gave man dominion over the earth and all he created, he talked about God wanting us to be fruitful and multiply, talked about the parable of the talent and also shared a story of how Jesus cursed the tree that refused to bear fruit.
In his sermon, he mentioned real facts regarding Africa and how we are more obsessed with only fruit of the womb than any other fruit and this man of God told us Africa is the way it is because we pray too much, honestly this is stale news but I screamed in church.
The summary of the sermon was that we must be innovative and take charge of the dominion given to us by the creator and be fruitful.
He rightly said God will not come down and put money in your pocket, however he will give you the wisdom on how to make that money, he will not come and make furniture or paper for you but he has given you the trees of the land for you to make your daily needs from, God provides the raw material for us and in being fruitful and taking charge of the power of dominion given to us, we are required to turn those raw materials into the different things we need daily in life, God did not build the mighty edifices around the world, the architects used their knowledge and wisdom to design those, being fruitful and multiplying goes beyond womb children in his words, there is something called a brain child and if Africa (read Nigeria) must change, we have to think of ways to bear brain children.
We cannot remain a consumer continent when we have enough raw materials deposited on our soil to be as great and fruitful as God intended us to be.
Last year, I wrote about Living life as a chef Here, it is a method I try to use in every day situations and how I view life so as not to lose my sanity when things go the wrong way. Last Sunday, I went to church after a long while and I happened to listen to Pastor Paul Adefarasin of House on the Rock church, honestly speaking Pastor Paul is one man I can sit through his sermons without blinking my eyes or rolling them, he is a realistic and logical preacher who is not here to ask you to pray billions into your account when you have not worked for it.
Part of sermon on Sunday was about us humans being made in the image and likeness of God and how God gave man dominion over the earth and all he created, he talked about God wanting us to be fruitful and multiply, talked about the parable of the talent and also shared a story of how Jesus cursed the tree that refused to bear fruit.
In his sermon, he mentioned real facts regarding Africa and how we are more obsessed with only fruit of the womb than any other fruit and this man of God told us Africa is the way it is because we pray too much, honestly this is stale news but I screamed in church.
The summary of the sermon was that we must be innovative and take charge of the dominion given to us by the creator and be fruitful.
He rightly said God will not come down and put money in your pocket, however he will give you the wisdom on how to make that money, he will not come and make furniture or paper for you but he has given you the trees of the land for you to make your daily needs from, God provides the raw material for us and in being fruitful and taking charge of the power of dominion given to us, we are required to turn those raw materials into the different things we need daily in life, God did not build the mighty edifices around the world, the architects used their knowledge and wisdom to design those, being fruitful and multiplying goes beyond womb children in his words, there is something called a brain child and if Africa (read Nigeria) must change, we have to think of ways to bear brain children.
We cannot remain a consumer continent when we have enough raw materials deposited on our soil to be as great and fruitful as God intended us to be.
Enough of the sermon, what has his words got to do with my
article? In talking about fruitfulness and the seed deposited in each one of
us, I could not help but see that particular part of sermon through the lens of
a farmer.
I was privileged to spend quality time with my late grandmother who was a farmer and a businesswoman, I learnt from a young age a bit of farming and gardening and in my course of business life, my daily experience with people and type of questions I am asked or the reasons people give for wanting to do business inspired this post.
Majority of people who speak to me and “envy” the “freedom” they think I have as a business person and people believing that not working for someone and taking orders is good enough reason to start a business, I realized many do not care enough to examine the type of seed deposited in them that they must nurture, having a business is a seed same way being an employee is a seed.
You should ask yourself if you are a good seed and how you can be a better seed even if you are not now, life is quite transactional and this becomes even more evident as we become adults, almost everything we do is an investment sort of.
For many, the fruit is the most important to them forgetting that without the seed, yielding fruits is impossible yet some are so concerned about where and how they can get water to nurture their seeds, this is not wrong but also not very right in my opinion, let me explain.
Water here is money or resources and this is very important in business and life I agree but have you ever tried pouring water on a particular spot for a month? I bet you every day, the soil sucks it up and the sun shines on that spot and nothing will happen, plant a seed on that same spot, water it and let the sun shine on it and watch it sprout out few days after.
I was privileged to spend quality time with my late grandmother who was a farmer and a businesswoman, I learnt from a young age a bit of farming and gardening and in my course of business life, my daily experience with people and type of questions I am asked or the reasons people give for wanting to do business inspired this post.
Majority of people who speak to me and “envy” the “freedom” they think I have as a business person and people believing that not working for someone and taking orders is good enough reason to start a business, I realized many do not care enough to examine the type of seed deposited in them that they must nurture, having a business is a seed same way being an employee is a seed.
You should ask yourself if you are a good seed and how you can be a better seed even if you are not now, life is quite transactional and this becomes even more evident as we become adults, almost everything we do is an investment sort of.
For many, the fruit is the most important to them forgetting that without the seed, yielding fruits is impossible yet some are so concerned about where and how they can get water to nurture their seeds, this is not wrong but also not very right in my opinion, let me explain.
Water here is money or resources and this is very important in business and life I agree but have you ever tried pouring water on a particular spot for a month? I bet you every day, the soil sucks it up and the sun shines on that spot and nothing will happen, plant a seed on that same spot, water it and let the sun shine on it and watch it sprout out few days after.
While money is important, the obsession of it blinds
us from seeing the important thing which is the seed (our talent, interest and skills)
and regardless of how much water we pour into it, if the seed is not good, you
will just be wetting the soil for no good reason.
A good farmer knows s/he must source for healthy seeds, s/he then plants and then nurture it to grow into what now yield fruits. In your community, no matter how generous people are, nobody will provide a poor man water to just pour on a soil he has not planted on; it is not wickedness but foolishness and an unnecessary waste of time and resources, people will give their water to you only when they have seen that you have planted, whether animals eat the plant or somehow it never yields fruits is another different story but you did the most important thing which was to have a seed and planted first. Someone asked me on twitter last week after I retweeted a business tweet, he asked about people who want to hunt but cannot because the bush is already too crowded with many hunters and also those who do not have the tools for hunting.
Now, I have never been a hunter but I dare to say I have seen people get meat in their food through different means (excluding buying), some hunt with a gun, for some they hunt with catapult and stone, some use the trap yet for some they go around their gardens picking snails and mushroom, my point is you can start at the level you can afford now and eventually grow to the next level, that is what wise farmers and hunters do. And on the issue of the bush being over crowded by hunters, do you really think a time will come when the hunters will be more than the bush? And if that time ever comes, look up into the sky and hunt the birds of the air, there is always a way, find yours and flourish and most importantly look for water only when you have a seed you have planted.
A good farmer knows s/he must source for healthy seeds, s/he then plants and then nurture it to grow into what now yield fruits. In your community, no matter how generous people are, nobody will provide a poor man water to just pour on a soil he has not planted on; it is not wickedness but foolishness and an unnecessary waste of time and resources, people will give their water to you only when they have seen that you have planted, whether animals eat the plant or somehow it never yields fruits is another different story but you did the most important thing which was to have a seed and planted first. Someone asked me on twitter last week after I retweeted a business tweet, he asked about people who want to hunt but cannot because the bush is already too crowded with many hunters and also those who do not have the tools for hunting.
Now, I have never been a hunter but I dare to say I have seen people get meat in their food through different means (excluding buying), some hunt with a gun, for some they hunt with catapult and stone, some use the trap yet for some they go around their gardens picking snails and mushroom, my point is you can start at the level you can afford now and eventually grow to the next level, that is what wise farmers and hunters do. And on the issue of the bush being over crowded by hunters, do you really think a time will come when the hunters will be more than the bush? And if that time ever comes, look up into the sky and hunt the birds of the air, there is always a way, find yours and flourish and most importantly look for water only when you have a seed you have planted.
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