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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for January 31, 2011
“It’s Time to Detassel”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
If you grew up in the Midwest, you probably know about “detasseling.”
A lot of kids earn their first real money by detasseling corn.
It’s a simple but sweaty job as a team walks through the field and pulls the tassely top off the corn stalks.
Why on earth would you do that?
The tassel produces pollen, and farmers want to control it. For example, they may plant three rows of one variety of corn, and one row of another variety. Then a detasseling team will pull the tassels off the three rows, leaving the one row to pollinate them all.
In this way they create a corn “hybrid” which is better. So farmers use detasseling to control crosspollination and produce better results.
When you hear “crosspollination” you might think of bees. Bees carry pollen from plant to plant, and are powerful players in pollination.
“Thanks for the science lesson, professor, but what does this have to do with me?”
In the same way there is crosspollination in the plant world, there is crosspollination among humans. I’m talking about human ideas and behavior, the things we believe and build our lives on.
Have you ever asked yourself, “Why do I speak the way I do?” It has everything to do with the language pollen that was dropped on you, starting with your parents and spreading out to your family, friends, school and media influences.
Why do you dress the way you do? If you wear a silk tie around your neck everyday, it’s because someone dropped the silk tie pollen on you. If you wear your pants below your rear end, and you have to keep one hand busy all day holding them up, it’s because someone dropped some rear end pollen on you.
Why do you say “ain’t”? Why do you eat with a napkin in your lap? Why do you wear a cowboy hat? Why do you put on cologne? Why do you drive a hybrid car?
We do so many things because at some time someone pollinated us with those ideas.
The other day I was working on a project with an older man and a younger man. The older man told the younger man, “Whatever you do, don’t take out school loans. I did that and I regret it. Work hard. Find grants. Pay as you go, but don’t take out loans.”
That’s one example of the crosspollination of ideas that takes place millions of times a minute all over the world. That was just one bit of pollen, and it will probably stick with the young man.
When I was young, I was told that a necktie should hit right in the middle of your belt buckle. It should never be lower than or higher than your buckle. I see men wear ties all over the place, long ties and short ties, and you are free to wear your tie wherever you want, but I will think it’s wrong because the tie pollen that got to me was “it must hit the middle of your buckle.”
It is important for us to be aware of this pollination process because we receive pollen deposits all day long.
Last week I took someone to the doctor and got a belly full of current events from the TV in the waiting room. At one point the main reporter brought up homosexual marriage, which he was totally for. Then he brought in a special reporter, and the special reporter was a more rabid supporter of gay marriage than the host. Then they brought in a third person, a “conservative,” they said, to provide balance. Well that guy varied little from the host’s opinion, so you ended up with three powerful pollen guns, all blasting out pro-gay-marriage pollen across the nation.
If you just sit back and let anyone and everyone dump their pollen on you, that is what they call “open pollination.”
Now let’s go back to the detasseling story. Why do those farmers detassel? Because they do not want open pollination. It makes corn weaker, more prone to disease and produces lower yields. Instead they strictly control the pollination in order to produce stronger corn.
I try to beware of the “idea pollination” in my own life. For example, I don’t listen to secular music. I know that music can have a powerful influence on me, so I control that influence. I want music to point me towards higher things, towards the Lord and a deeper walk with Him. To reach those goals, I “detassel” the music from my life that might lead me elsewhere.
Many people practice “open pollination” when it comes to their music. They listen to anything and everything, but let me ask you this. Can a person have that much pollen poured over them and not be affected?
Think about this when it comes to the people you hang out with. They will constantly be dumping pollen on you. The question is, is that the pollen you want? Are their values and goals going to make you stronger or weaker?
Jesus made a point like this in Mark 8:15 when He said, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” The Pharisees and King Herod were pollinators, and Jesus warned about their influence.
What we watch, what we read, who we listen to – all of these are pollinators, and they have a profound impact on us.
So take a good look at the pollinators in your life, identify the ones that need to go, then detassel them out of your life.
Detasseling – it controls crosspollination and produces better results.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
On the flip side, we should become the pollinators! Jesus said we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, so get out there and cross-pollinate for the cross!
© 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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