Thanks to Dr. Don Orvis and our friends at Face to Face International (www.face.org) for sharing this story…

Missionaries in the later part of the 19th century began to push into the interior of China. There they found a small community where the main crop was potatoes.

These Chinese nationals had a good climate and great soil, but their harvest was tiny potatoes about the size of marbles. The missionaries asked, “Surely some big potatoes grew here?” “Oh yes, we used to get big ones, but lately we only get a few now and then,” they admitted.

What do you do with the bigger potatoes?” “Well,” the local farmers answered, “We eat them, of course. They are the best.”

The nationals were planting the tiny potatoes that had the genes that produced even smaller crops. They were systematically reducing their crop as they took the biggest and best for themselves. The missionaries showed them that only when you plant the big ones — the “best” that you have — will you get bigger potatoes in return.

We smile at people who do not understand this most basic principle. Yet, we often do the very same thing. We say “I want to keep the best for myself.” Whatever is left — the leftovers — I will let God have them. We want to give God our “runt” potatoes, and then we wonder why life seems disappointing.

What kind of potatoes are you planting? Big ones or runts? Maybe you’re not planting any… Remember, you reap what you sow.