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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for September 10, 2010
“When You Think There Is Nothing You Can Do About It”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
It was a beautiful Saturday morning!
All the summer world was bright and fresh and brimming with life, and there was a song in every heart!
Except Tom’s.
He stood on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a brush, and as he surveyed the fence, all gladness left him. Thirty yards of boardfence nine feet high.
He dipped the brush and ran it along the top plank. He did it again, then compared his insignificant streak to the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence – and he sat down on a box, discouraged.
He thought of the fun he had planned for this day, and his sorrows multiplied. Soon the free boys would come tripping along on all sorts of delicious expeditions and they would make a world of fun of him for having to work – the very thought of it burnt him like fire.
He fished through his pockets to see if he could pay the other boys to do the work for him, but he could not.
Suddenly, at this dark and hopeless moment, an inspiration burst upon him! Nothing less than a great and magnificent inspiration!
Do you recognize this story from “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain? Tom’s great idea was to make the whitewashing look like fun instead of work so that the other boys would want to do it, and pay him for the chance!
One boy said to Tom, “Oh come, now, you don’t mean to let on that you like it?”
“Like it?” said Tom, “Well I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”
What you have here is a great example of resourcefulness. Tom used his resourcefulness to get the fence painted without doing it himself, and without paying someone else.
We don’t hear a lot about resourcefulness these days, but it’s a great character trait.
Resourcefulness means making wise use of what you have, instead of wringing your hands about what you don’t have.
Resourcefulness is problem solving. It’s finding a way where there seems to be no way. It’s seeing things in a new light, with an open mind.
Psychologist Karl Duncker created a test called The Candle Problem.* You’re given a candle and matches and a box of thumbtacks, then you’re told to fix the candle on the wall in such a way that the wax doesn’t drip onto the table.
What would you do? Maybe you would try to tack the candle to the wall. Maybe you would try to use some melted wax to stick the candle to the wall.
But here is what the most resourceful people do. They dump the tacks out of the box, then tack the box to the wall. The box then becomes the candle holder, fixing the candle to the wall and catching the wax.
The less resourceful people only see the box as a container for the tacks, while the more resourceful people see the box as another tool to be used.
Resourcefulness means having an open mind to new possibilities, beyond what meets the eye. What immediately met Tom Sawyer’s eye was the idea of paying boys to work for him. But when he realized he couldn’t pay them, his resourcefulness kicked in.
Here is a great example of resourcefulness on the football field. The quarterback calls the play in the huddle and the team goes to the line. Then the quarterback notices something about the defense that he can take advantage of, so he calls an audible. Instead of sticking with the original play, he resourcefully changes it to something that will work better, based on the new information.
Do you remember Jesus’ Parable of the Talents? Three men were given money, but weren’t told what to do with it. Two of them doubled what they were given. How did they do it, especially with no instructions? They used their resourcefulness.
An example of resourcefulness on a national scale is the story of Joseph in Egypt. A famine was coming, so what should he do? He used his resourcefulness to develop a massive and detailed plan to collect and store vast amounts of grain during the good years. A less resourceful person may have just thrown up their hands and said, “Well, a famine is on the way and there is nothing we can do about it!”
Tom Sawyer might have said, “Well, I have to whitewash today and there is nothing I can do about it.”
The quarterback could have said, “Well, they’re going to blitz and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
And you might be in a tough spot today and saying the same thing, “There’s nothing I can do about it.”
Well there’s almost always something you can do about it, if you will just open your mind and be more resourceful.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Candle_Problem
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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