Tugging Rice Plants

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Jesus, in John 15:5 我是葡萄树，你们是枝子。常在我里面的，我也常在他里面，这人就多结果子。因为离了我，你们就不能作什么。 约翰福音15:5

“Pulling rice plants to make them grow." Ancient Chinese Proverb 拔苗助长

Pulling Rice Plants In ancient times, an impatient Chinese farmer tried tugging his rice plants to make them grow faster. But the next day he found the plants withered and dead because he had pulled their roots loose from the soil. Ever since, Chinese have used the phrase "tugging rice plants".

Like the foolish farmer's rice plants, we must grow naturally from within, nourished and pushed up from the roots, rather than pushing ourselves, or allowing ourselves to be pulled prematurely from without. There are seasons for growth and seasons for bearing fruit, and we can't rush either one--though we may undergo some painful pruning if we forget that growth must be followed by bearing fruit.

Growth or Fruit? I fed and watered my fruit trees faithfully (peaches, plums, nectarines, oranges), and they sucked up all that I could give them, but they used it not on bearing fruit but on just increasing their own size. They were large, beautiful, and shady, but unlike a Chinese silkworm, I don't eat leaves, so after the third fruitless season I pruned them back almost to the trunk.

I could almost hear their woody whining of complaint as I whacked and hacked. When I finished they looked dead, and probably felt it. But the next year they came back fuller than ever, and the vibrantly green new branches produced more fruit than we and our friends and neighbors could eat. And so I learned that the trees not only need to be well rooted and well nourished, but that they also must be pruned, lest they expend everything I give them on themselves and give give me nothing in return.

We too must remain rooted and grounded, and centered on our purpose--which is not to grow for the sake of growth, but to grow that we may bear fruit. And if we fail to bear fruit, we may undergo a painful pruning to remind us of Why we are here.

Of course, unlike the rice plant or the grape vine, we can refuse the pruning, or even separate ourselves from the branch in our attempts to accomplish too much too quickly. But then we simply do to ourselves what the foolish farmer did to his rice plants--and with the same result.

Related: Sown in China (In Memory of Steve C.)

拔苗助长 ["Tugging Rice Plants"]
Click Here for Source: ICIBA Salon
古时候宋国有个农夫，种了稻苗后，便希望能早早收成。

每天他到稻田时，发觉那些稻苗长得非常慢。他等得不耐烦，心想："怎么样才能使稻苗长得高，长很快呢?想了又想，他终了想到一个"最佳方法"，就是将稻苗拨高几分。

经过一番辛劳后，他满意地扛锄头回家休息。然后回去对家里的人表白："今天可把我累坏了，我帮助庄稼苗长高一大截！"

他儿子赶快跑到地里去一看，禾苗全都枯死了。

www.amoymagic.com