[Faith-talk] Appreciation To The Boll Weevil by Ivy R. Doherty

[Paul Smith]

It is a strange sight to see a monument to the boll weevil, but there 
is such a monument in Enterprise, Alabama.

On the monument are inscribed these words:  "In profound appreciation 
of the boll weevil and what it has done to herald prosperity."

Who could appreciate a boll weevil--little creature of destruction? 
With its long snout it bites into the blossom buds of the cotton plant 
and destroys the flowers.  It feeds on the young bolls and lays its 
eggs in some of the holes it makes.  The hatched eggs become worms, 
which also feed on the bolls.  How could a boll weevil herald 
prosperity in a cotton-growing state?

When you see the sign, you must know what lies behind the note of 
appreciation.  You find the answer in the fact that in years gone by 
farmers had grown little else besides cotton, especially after the 
cotton gin was perfected by Eli Whitney.  Then came the boll weevil, 
destroying most of Alabama's cotton crop of 1910.

Discouraged farmers saw in the disaster the need for growing many 
different crops instead of depending on one.  And so farms began to 
produce in abundance corn and peanuts, beef and dairy products, sweet 
potatoes, pecans, nuts, fruits and timber.

While cotton still remains the chief paying crop of Alabama, prosperity 
has come because of diversified farm interests.  Disaster in the form 
of a boll weevil plague proved, inevitably, to bring prosperity.

Thus, it seems, it must ever be in our lives.  Adversity, setbacks, 
heartbreaks, tragedies, disasters and hardships will come, but they can 
be used as turning points in our lives--lookout places where, because a 
door was shut on us, we get a new vision of what we might do with what 
remains to us.  The vision once caught, we go on to wider spheres of 
service, to new spiritual horizons where we flourish and grow up in the 
likeness of Christ.

To most of us there comes a day, or days, when we take a constructive 
backward look and give thanks for the day the "boll weevil" ravished our lives.

And there you have Sister Ivy's short article which I hope was a 
blessing for you.  Until tomorrow when, Lord willing another timely 
contribution will be posted, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob 
just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in 
which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul