Back when farming was a widespread vocation, Farmer George, a quiet man of habit and hope, set out for the market to buy wheat seeds. His journey, as always, led him from his home to the market and finally to his farmland to begin planting for the new season.

But as he walked back from the market, some seeds spilled from his bag and fell by the roadside, trampled by other travelers or eaten by birds. A little further along, more seeds slipped out, landing on rocky ground. They later sprouted quickly but withered just as fast. And near the end of his journey, some seeds landed on poor soil and later struggled to grow at all.

Finally, Farmer George arrived at his land and planted the remaining seeds in good, healthy soil. He watered them, protected them, and watched them thrive. In time, they yielded a bountiful harvest of over 1,440 crops.

If you believe in destiny, you might ask if some seeds simply meant to fall along the way? Was the harvest predestined to only yield those number of crops? Could George have prevented the loss by patching his bag sooner?

Perhaps.

But perhaps not.

Even if his bag hadn’t been initially torn, something else might have intervened. Maybe those seeds were never meant to reach the farmland. Maybe the ones that did survive were destined to yield exactly the right amount of produce. Would we ever know?

It makes me wonder, does Farmer George truly get the best of his efforts? Or was this outcome always meant to be?

Maybe it is true that destiny has a way of carving paths, but sometimes, effort bends that path a little further. Farmer George may have invested in all the seeds at the start, but only a few returned that investment in full. And maybe, just maybe, that was always enough.