Key Bible Verse: So don't get tired of doing what is good … for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time (Galatians 6:9). Bonus Reading: Haggai 2:1-9

Jean Giono tells of climbing in 1913 in the French Alps where, because of careless deforestation, the mountains around Provence were barren. Former villages were deserted because their springs had run dry. The wind blew furiously, unimpeded by foliage.

Giono came to a shepherd's hut, where he was invited to spend the night. After dinner, he watched the shepherd sort through a pile of acorns, discarding the cracked or undersized ones. The shepherd, Elzeard Bouffier, counted out 100 perfect acorns, then went to bed. Giono learned that over the last three-plus years he'd planted 100,000 trees on the wild hillsides, 20,000 of which had sprouted. Of those, he expected half to be eaten by rodents or die due to the elements, and the other half to live.

After World War I, Giono returned to the mountainside and discovered a young forest. He returned once more after World War II. Twenty miles from the lines, the shepherd had continued his work, ignoring this war as he had the former one. "On the site of the ruins I had seen in 1913," Giono wrote, "now stand neat farms. The old streams, fed by the snows that the forest conserves, are flowing again. Little by little, the villages have been rebuilt"—thanks to one resolute shepherd.

—Hal Seed in Leadership

My Response: What goal would merit investing in over a lifetime?

Thought to Apply: With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are possible. —George MacDonald (Scottish pastor & author)

Adapted from our sister publication Leadership Journal.

Prayer for the Week

Help me, Lord, to so focus on Your promises that I'm no longer tempted to give up.

				Try an Issue of Men of Integrity Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Men of Integrity as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up for the Men of Integrity Newsletter    RSS Feed   RSS Help