The parable of the young gardener

In a place not far away at a time not long ago lived a man in a beautiful, large house, which was surrounded by a wonderful, big, lush garden. In the garden grew flowers of all sorts, fruit trees, evergreen shrubs, different kinds of grasses and herbs and many, many more greeneries. Animals loved the garden. Birds were socialising in the tall trees, deer and rabbits were enjoying the abundance of food and the peaceful setting.

The man thought to himself, "I need to have a gardener that helps me to keep the weeds in check." The man spread the word and eventually found a young man that fitted the profile. The two walked through the garden and the man presented his beautiful garden to his newly found gardener. He said, "I need you to help me keep the weeds in check and help any animal that you find in distress to the best of your abilities. Also, help my flowers, shrubs, trees and other plants if you find that they are attacked by parasites and pests. In the shed you will find a manual that will help you to identify the pests and will guide you how to keep them in check. The shed also contains everything else you need to keep the garden in its present beauty. Consult the manual, think about our meeting today and understand my intention and motivation. You can come and ask me if you have questions but I am a busy man and you might not always be able to find me. But rest assured I have told you everything you need to know and I will make sure that the shed will always be filled with all the things that you need to do a good job."

The gardener was happy that he found this job. He felt privileged that he was chosen to attend to this beautiful garden and so he went into the shed and yes, his master did not lie, everything he needed was in there. So the gardener went about his business and wanted to start to pull out weeds. But when he was in the garden, he found it difficult to distinguish between weeds and herbs and other greeneries. He knew that the manual contained pictures and descriptions of what a weed was but the manual was so big and he did not feel like carrying it with him into the garden. He also did not feel like memorising the information since his memory and attention span was really not that good. So he ran to his master's house and shouted, "Sir, I need you helping me to identify what a weed is." Thankfully the master had time and he went with the gardener to the spot that troubled the gardener. The master explained everything about the weed that the gardener needed to know.

The master asked: "Are you now confident to go on by yourself?"

The young gardener replied, "Yes Sir, I can go on by myself now."

The young gardener pulled out the weeds and he was proud how quickly he managed to progress through this section of the garden. When he was finished he thought to himself, "What shall I do now?" He sat down and waited. He contemplated and thought about what the master had told him and tried to remember the master's intention and motivation. After a long while he decided to go back to the master's house and ask the master what to do next. As he approached the house he shouted, "Sir, I have finished pulling out the weeds in the south section, what do you propose I should do next?"

"Go to the north section and see what you will find there!" replied the master patiently.

The young gardener walked slowly to the north section, not paying much attention to anything that was going on in the garden as he walked past. He arrived at the north section and saw that there were strange insects doing some damage to the fruit trees. He was shocked and ran back to his master's house. He arrived under the window of his master's study and shouted with an alarmed voice, "Sir, the fruit trees in the north section are under attack, come with me and see!" The master looked up from his desk, put a bookmark into the book that he was reading, rose from his chair and walked out into the garden to meet the young gardener. They both walked hurriedly towards the north section. "You do realise that the manual in the shed contains all the information you need? Furthermore, all things you need to fight the pests are in the shed, do you understand this?" the master asked.

"Yes, sir.", replied the young gardener.

They arrived at the north section and the master explained to the young gardener what he thought should happen next. The master left the young gardener again for his studies after making sure that the young gardener now knew what he should do. Strolling back towards the house the master noted that there were weeds in the west section. "The gardener should have noted this on his way to the north section!", he thought to himself, "I will call my son to spend some time with this young gardener. I am sure that as my son shows him how he goes about things, the gardener will learn the trade and become more confident and proficient in his approach."

The next day, the son arrived in the garden and met the young gardener. He introduced himself: "Hello, I am the son of the master. He asked me to come here and show to you how I go about things in the garden so that you can observe, do things together with me and learn to become a better gardener." The two spent the whole day together in the garden. They had fun and laughed. The young gardener really liked the son because he told many good stories and seemed to know everything about gardening. "He really is as smart as the master is.", thought the young gardener.

The son liked the young gardener and so he came to the garden every day until the week was over. At the end of the week the son said, "I have to go back to my father's house. You now know everything that you need to know and I am sure that the garden will flourish under your care! Just remember everything I taught you. If you are not sure, go to the shed and study the manual. I added a few pages to it to make sure that you will understand the instructions better. Don't worry my father is not angry with you about the inefficiency you showed in the beginning, I will speak to him and make sure that he will keep you."

With sad eyes the young gardener tried to convince the son to stay, "Sir, do you really have to go now? It was so nice to be with you and I know that with you around, this garden will be like the Garden of Eden."

"With you around this garden can be like the Garden of Eden too!", the son replied with a smile on his face, "look, I will send you my brother. He is as good as me and he will remind you of all the things that I have told you. It will be as if I am with you. So why don't you come back on Monday and wait for him in the shed?

"I will do, Sir, but I will miss you.", replied the young gardener softly.

"Don't worry, I will be back soon and then we can all stay together in the garden.", the son said gently.

On Monday the brother of the son came as promised and met the young gardener in the shed. The gardener noted a difference between the two brothers though: This brother's approach was to prompt the gardener into action. He did not go ahead and demonstrated everything to the gardener, no, he prompted the gardener and reminded him about how to go about things. The young gardener liked the brother but he did not understand why he would never pull out a weed for him? He drummed up all his courage and asked the brother about it.

"You see, my father wants that you do things like my brother. If I demonstrate things to you and pull out weeds, then you will start to emulate me and forget about how my brother did it.", replied the brother and continued with his approach.

The young gardener also noted that the brother would not nag or force him to do things. If the young gardener sat down to have a rest, then the brother would sit down and wait. If the break would become to extended, then the brother would stand up and say, "Come let's press on, remember how my brother goes about things." But this brother's approach was gentle and so he would not get upset if the gardener would continue his rest, so the young gardener would from time to time take advantage of that and have very long breaks.

After a while the young gardener said to himself, "It is better if I wait for either the father or the son to come down to the garden. I can then show what I have done, get feedback and they will give me new instructions." So the young gardener sat next to the shed and waited. The brother would often try to inspire the young gardener into action and the young gardener would sometimes respond to this inspiration but most of the time the young gardener waited for his masters to return. He knew that on that day, when the son would come back, they would stroll through the garden together and enjoy each other's company. He wished that this day would come soon and that this day would last forever.

You can imagine that after a while the garden did not have much resemblance with the Garden of Eden. Many fruit trees died and many flowers stopped blossoming. The weeds took over and started to replace many fantastic smelling herbs. All in all the garden was not such a pleasant place for the animals any more: there were less birds that brought their beautiful song and many rabbits and deer stayed away. This all grieved the brother very much. He knew how his brother and his father would feel once they come back to the garden; but that is a different story...