I was recently reading about a real estate agent in California. His name is Art Huskey. It seems that Art had a love of helping people. He also had a passion of selling real estate. He chose to use one venue to accomplish and compliment the other. I don’t know for sure, but I bet Art was very successful in real estate, and in every aspect of his life. He went way out of his way to help his clients, even after the deal was closed.
He chose the seed instead of the bouquet. He went for the smaller things that would produce the biggest results when conducting his real estate business and help people in the process.
I came across this poem which is called: Gardener, that goes along with the way Art chose to conduct his life and direct his real estate business.
Gardener
by Ann North
Some of the seeds of hope
Planted tentatively in the fall
Have not come up
They lie stillborn and unrealized
Somewhere in the spring soil
Decaying
The strongest and best ones
Pushed up through leaves
And layers of cold, hard resistance
Right into clear blue air
And stand there nakedly, green
Breathing
It’s always that way with growing things
Never knowing at the start
Which will make it and which will fail
But the thing to hold fast to
Never to lose faith in
Is simply
Sowing
Your life is you story and it’s your bouquet. Your every-day-going-about-your-business life is comprised of the small things, the seeds you plant that will produce the bouquet in your relationships and in business.
Art is a good example, but we have a better example to emulate, especially if we are Christ followers. Author and business leader Laurie Beth Jones said this: “Jesus could have ruled the earth. But his kingdom was not of this world. That is why he prized the seed more than the bouquet”.
I am a lover of flowers. I like to have flowers in different places in my house all year long. In the spring and summer, I am a happy camper when I can cut fresh blooms from the flowers I loving tend and add beauty to the rooms of my house. I don’t much think of the seeds or bulbs as I gaze upon those bursts of colorful gifts bestowed by our Father, but without those seeds, there would be no flowers.
The hard work always comes before we see the fruits of our labor, in relationships, at work and even in our church family. Prizing the seed about the bouquet is not only a wise way to live but the way Jesus did.
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