Several years ago, our friends gave us five precious, rare, blue, corn seeds. Johnny insists they were actually purple, but since he can't tell the difference between purple or blue to save his life, I am going to say they were BLUE.
We planted them.
That year, the rains were scarce, and our corn stalks didn't grow to great heights. Knowing they were rather precious, we spared water for them and encouraged them to grow.
Then one day, our calf got out and decided those five little stalks were just the right size for munching!
CHOMP! (1) Chew... chew... chew..
CHOMP! (2) Chew... chew...
CHOMP! (3) Chew... chew...
CHOMP! (4) Chew... chew... chew... chew... GULP.
All that remained was the LAST tiny, decrepit looking stalk so short, it was actually hidden among some grass.
I was quite upset with the little bull, and he probably got sold not long after, as is customary for our little bull calves born over the years.
Still, I tended to the little stalk only to see it never fully develop. It had one minuscule ear the size of my thumb growing out of a joint in the stalk. It looked rather pathetic so ultimately, we didn't bother with it. When the entire plant was dry and withered, I decided it was time to pull it up for something new.
Out of curiosity, I pulled off the tiny ear... I love dissecting things and seeing how they grow. I gently pulled back the mini husks and fine silk to find on this white, immature cob, there-- staring back at me was a single, dark, rich, blue, lonely kernel.
I almost chuckled. To imagine that this stalk, with all of our efforts poured into it, grew to produce ONE lonely seed. It seemed almost mockingly funny to me.
I plucked the seed from the cob and put it on a shelf near our coffee mugs and forgot it there.
This year, after our rains started, I was cleaning the kitchen when I found a blue, hard ball on the kitchen shelf and almost tossed it when I realised it was my corn kernel!
I planted it in the front of the house so we could keep an eye on it. It now is two times taller than I am with several lush ears growing on it!
We recently visited our friends who gave us the seeds. While there, I told them about how our special blue corn got eaten by the calf, and all the rest of the story you just read...
They gasped with excitement telling us that ALL of their seeds were accidentally destroyed by their farm staff who tossed them out as 'garbage!' They have been frantically calling all of the people with whom they shared seeds. Unfortunately, EVERYONE of them ending up fruitless. No one managed to harvest or keep any blue corn seeds due to various strange reasons.
Our lone, blue kernel is ALL that remains! The blue corn of Kenya (as far as our area is concerned) is banking on that one seed!
So my point of all of this is to say that in life, you may feel as if you are alone, you are decrepit, or you may not feel full of life, but you may end up being the hope for the future... YOU may be a drop in a pond that causes a ripple that changes the world. You may be a lone, blue kernel set on a shelf somewhere waiting for your time to be planted so that you can grow into something fruitful!
I believe in you!
Kate
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