Daily Archives: January 22, 2015

The Parable of the Oranges…

A friend of ours posted a talk by brother Randall L. Ridd about how we needed to have real intent was we live and serve the Lord. In the talk he gave what he called ‘The Parable of the Oranges.” As I read it, I found that it is a perfect example of the difference in just serving in a calling and being fully committed to a calling. In the first we do just what is expected – one visit to our families as a home teacher or visiting teacher so we can mark if off on the roll. In the second we contact our families as often as needed. We know when they are in need so we can tell our branch president or bishop. We truly love them and they know that we do so when they do need something – physically or spiritually – they know they can contact us and we will be there to help. We serve them with joy and by doing this we are blessed.

I hope that you will enjoy reading this and will share it with others.

The Parable of the Oranges

Randall L. Ridd

I would like to share a modern-day parable that I will call “The Parable of the Oranges.” As you listen, consider what this story teaches you about the power of real intent.

There was a young man who had ambitions to work for a company because it paid very well and was very prestigious. He prepared his résumé and had several interviews. Eventually, he was given an entry-level position. Then he turned his ambition to his next goal—a supervisor position that would afford him even greater prestige and more pay. So he completed the tasks he was given. He came in early some mornings and stayed late so the boss would see him putting in long hours.

After five years a supervisor position became available. But, to the young man’s great dismay, another employee, who had only worked for the company for six months, was given the promotion. The young man was very angry, and he went to his boss and demanded an explanation.

The wise boss said, “Before I answer your questions, would you do a favor for me?”

“Yes, sure,” said the employee.

“Would you go to the store and buy some oranges? My wife needs them.”

The young man agreed and went to the store. When he returned, the boss asked, “What kind of oranges did you buy?”

“I don’t know,” the young man answered. “You just said to buy oranges, and these are oranges. Here they are.”

“How much did they cost?” the boss asked.

“Well, I’m not sure,” was the reply. “You gave me $30. Here is your receipt, and here is your change.”

“Thank you,” said the boss. “Now, please have a seat and pay careful attention.”

Then the boss called in the employee who had received the promotion and asked him to do the same job. He readily agreed and went to the store.

When he returned, the boss asked, “What kind of oranges did you buy?”

“Well,” he replied, “the store had many varieties—there were navel oranges, Valencia oranges, blood oranges, tangerines, and many others, and I didn’t know which kind to buy. But I remembered you said your wife needed the oranges, so I called her. She said she was having a party and that she was going to make orange juice. So I asked the grocer which of all these oranges would make the best orange juice. He said the Valencia orange was full of very sweet juice, so that’s what I bought. I dropped them by your home on my way back to the office. Your wife was very pleased.”

“How much did they cost?” the boss asked.

“Well, that was another problem. I didn’t know how many to buy, so I once again called your wife and asked her how many guests she was expecting. She said 20. I asked the grocer how many oranges would be needed to make juice for 20 people, and it was a lot. So, I asked the grocer if he could give me a quantity discount, and he did! These oranges normally cost 75 cents each, but I paid only 50 cents. Here is your change and the receipt.”

The boss smiled and said, “Thank you; you may go.”

He looked over at the young man who had been watching. The young man stood up, slumped his shoulders and said, “I see what you mean,” as he walked dejectedly out of the office.

What was the difference between these two young men? They were both asked to buy oranges, and they did. You might say that one went the extra mile, or one was more efficient, or one paid more attention to detail. But the most important difference had to do with real intent rather than just going through the motions. The first young man was motivated by money, position, and prestige. The second young man was driven by an intense desire to please his employer and an inner commitment to be the best employee he could possibly be—and the outcome was obvious.



YSA Family Home Evening…

I almost forgot to post about the great YSA FHE that we had on Monday night. For once we had a pretty good balance between men and women. We also had a number of YSA join us for the first time so we had a total of 9 plus ourselves. In keeping with the month’s theme of temples and genealogy work, we showed the full length movie – The Mountain of the Lord about the building of the Salt Lake temple. After that there were a number of tense games of Book of Mormon bingo that everyone seems to really enjoy. The only thing we have to be careful of is that people do not eat too many of the mini-marshmellow that we use as markers.

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Visiting Members and an Unusual Side Trip

One of the things we really enjoy doing is meeting with the members in their homes. We see all kinds of homes – some are very nice and some are very humble. However no matter what the building itself may be like, the people are 99.9% of the time clean and happy. IMG_7915 IMG_7918

It is summer here and that means it is hot – really hot and humid. Few homes have air conditioning and many do not even have a fan. So people will sit outside in the shade and hope to catch a breeze that often blows at this time of the year. When we visited sister Mary’s home we found her and her two children lying under a very full tree enjoying the shade and trying to keep cool.

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As we went to turn around to head out from sister Mary’s we saw this fence full of laundry. They had run out of room on their clothes line and so used what ever was handy. It reminded us of our time in Indonesia when even the middle of Jakarta it was not unusual to see clothes drying on fences and once even on a divider fence in the middle of very busy highway. You just learn to make do with what you have available.

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Now while there is truly little to see and do that is exciting around our area, I think we sunk to a new low today. Mary has wanted to take a road in Promosa that we often see but have never traveled. It promises that after traveling 5.4K we will come to the municipal dump. The road runs over gentle hills and is surrounded by beautiful summer green grass and lots of trees. At the end we found just as advertised the latest section of the landfill. While I can not recommend the trip to visitors, I do wish I had taken some pictures of the scenery along the way.