Caring for the Golden Goose

Aesop tells of an old farmer with a very special goose. This goose looked like any other goose, but she laid eggs unlike any other eggs. The eggs were solid gold. The farmer and he wife were thrilled, they had never owned much. Their lives had been filled with endless work in the hot blistering sun. Now they were blessed with this incredible goose that laid pure golden eggs. You can imagine their excitement as they waited each morning for the mother goose to lay yet another golden egg. But the farmer and his faithful wife grew weary of waiting for the daily one egg to be deposited in the feather lined nest. They wanted more gold and they wanted it now. So they decided the goose must be made of gold inside. In order to get the gold, they decided to kill the goose and remove all the gold so they would be rich now instead of later. So they killed the goose but inside they only found goose organs and not a single ounce of gold.

The moral of this story is “Don’t love the gold more than the goose!” Take good care of the goose that lays the golden eggs. In ministry terms that means take care of the workers that God gives you.

Now if the old farmer was very wise like most farmers are, how do you think he would have cared for his goose? If that goose was mine I would protect it. I would watch over it carefully, feed it the best food money could buy, see that all of its needs were met. Are you getting the picture? These volunteers that God has trusted you with are the ones that are doing all the work. They are the ones that are teaching the kids, making the visits, on and on. They are making your vision of reaching children possible. You just can’t do it without them unless you have a very small ministry or plan to have a very small ministry soon.

Do you value the workers and team that God has sent you?

Then show them! Need some ideas? Go to our website for ideas.