The One That Got Away

The Man Minute "Sixty second investments to Christ-Like manhood".

The One That Got Away
by Jason Cruise

I was nine years old and had my eyes, and my heart, concretely fixed upon a new BB gun. The new pump action concept was a major step up from my Daisy lever action. I can still hear my dad negotiating the offer. "Clean out your grandfather's garden, and I'll buy you the BB gun you've been wanting." 
 
Sounds easy, unless you knew my grandfather. He did nothing half-way. By the best estimate of my nine-year-old mind, I figured the garden to be approximately one hundred and thirty-seven acres of corn, beans, okra, tomatoes, and squash. On top of that, this was hot work. De-weeding and de-bugging that garden was nothing short of prison labor. This was no doubt a week's worth of work, and I'd only been at work for about three hours and yet was exhausted. Halfway through it, I decided that I'd done enough to earn that BB gun. I quickly pulled a few weeds from the rest of the garden that I'd yet to work through, and called for my dad to come inspect my efforts. "Sorry son, but that's nowhere close to finished." Dad did let me quit, and I never got that BB gun.
 
 Love doesn't mean that I'm entitled to get what I want. My dad loved me too much to deceive me by letting me think that I can cheat my way through a contract and yet somehow reap an honest reward.
 
 He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored. - Proverbs 13:18

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