A king was about to retire and wanted to select one of his three sons to inherit the reins of his kingdom. He called them all and told them that he was going to decide who among them would make the best successor. He gave each of them a grain of wheat and said they should each do what they deemed fit with the grain during the next couple of years when he would be gone on his travels.
On his return, the king called each son to narrate what he had done with the grain of wheat.
The first replied, 'father, as your successor, I should preserve the safety of our kingdom. I understood at once this grain of wheat is your metaphor for the kingdom. Here it is, I have kept it safe in a gold box.' When the box was opened, the grain looked wasted and dead.
The second son replied, 'father, I knew you wanted to test how well I would inherit the richness of our kingdom. The wheat grain was your metaphor for our wealth. The wealth of a grain is in its eating, so I cooked it and ate it up.'
The third and last son told his father, 'father, I request you to come with me to see what I have done with the grain'. He took him to a field, and showed a rich harvest of wheat. He said, 'father, the true potential of our kingdom is to grow and prosper. I knew your grain was your metaphor for the productive potential of our land. I took it, sowed it, and turn by turn, it has grown into a lot of wheat here in this field'.
The richness of life is in its living and growing. Not being hoarded away like gold.
