The Ear of Corn

Long ago, in the earliest days of the world when God still walked among His creation and spoke directly with the creatures He had made, the earth was a paradise beyond anything we can imagine today. The fields produced grain so abundantly that each stalk of corn grew as tall as a tree, and every ear was as large as a man’s arm and filled with kernels as big as cherries.

In those blessed times, there was no hunger, no want, no fear of famine. The earth gave freely of its bounty, and humanity lived in comfort and plenty. The stalks of corn were so massive that a single ear could feed a family for a week, and the harvest from just one field could sustain an entire village for years.

But with such abundance came a terrible thing—the people began to take their blessings for granted. Because food was so plentiful and so easily obtained, they lost their appreciation for the miracle of growth, the wonder of harvest, and the sacred gift of sustenance that the Creator had provided.

Children would break off pieces of the giant corn ears to use as toys, throwing them at each other in play and leaving the precious kernels scattered on the ground to rot. Adults would take only the finest, most perfect portions of each ear, discarding the rest as if it were worthless. Entire stalks would be cut down not for food, but simply to clear paths or make room for other activities.

The waste became enormous and shameful. Fields that could have fed thousands were treated as playgrounds. The golden kernels that represented life itself were kicked around like pebbles, left to spoil in the mud, or carelessly thrown away without a second thought.

One autumn day, when the wastefulness of humanity had reached its peak, God walked through the cornfields and saw what His children had done with His gift. The sight filled His heart with sorrow and righteous anger. Everywhere He looked, He saw abundance squandered, blessings despised, and the sacred gift of sustenance treated as something common and worthless.

Corn ears lay broken and abandoned on the ground, their golden kernels scattered like forgotten treasures. Children ran through the fields, trampling the grain underfoot as they played their careless games. Women gathering food for their families took only the very best portions, leaving mountains of perfectly good grain to waste away.

God’s heart was heavy as He witnessed this scene. He remembered the love with which He had created these abundant fields, the care He had taken to ensure that every kernel would be perfect, every ear full and nourishing. He had given His children everything they could possibly need, and more, yet they had responded with ingratitude and waste.

As God walked among the corn stalks, He encountered a young mother who was gathering grain for her family’s evening meal. But instead of collecting the scattered kernels that lay all around her, she was reaching for only the highest, most perfect ears, rejecting anything that wasn’t absolutely pristine.

“Woman,” God said to her, His voice gentle but filled with deep sadness, “why do you step over good grain to reach for only the finest?”

The woman looked at the stranger with surprise. “Because I want only the best for my family,” she replied. “Why should I settle for inferior grain when perfect ears are so easy to find?”

“And what becomes of the grain you reject?” God asked.

The woman shrugged carelessly. “It lies where it falls, I suppose. There is so much corn that it doesn’t matter. There will always be more.”

God looked around at the field, seeing the waste and abundance existing side by side. “Will there?” He asked quietly.

Before the woman could answer, God raised His hand and spoke in a voice that carried across all the fields of the earth: “Since you have shown no gratitude for abundance, since you have wasted the gifts I gave you freely, since you have treated as worthless what I created with love, the time of giant corn is ended.”

As His words echoed across the world, something extraordinary and terrible happened. The enormous corn stalks began to shrink, growing smaller and smaller until they were no taller than a man’s shoulder. The great ears that had once been as large as tree branches became thin and small, and the kernels that had been as big as cherries became tiny grains.

But God’s heart was not without mercy. Even in His disappointment, He could not bear to leave His children without sustenance entirely. Just as the corn stalks finished shrinking to their new, smaller size, He reconsidered His judgment.

“I cannot take away entirely what I have given,” God said, His voice now filled with both sorrow and compassion. “But neither can I allow such waste to continue. From this day forward, corn will be small, and humanity will have to work harder for their bread. Perhaps when food is not so easily obtained, people will learn to value what they have.”

And so the corn remained small, as it is to this day. But God, in His infinite mercy, ensured that even the smaller ears would still provide sufficient nourishment for those who tended them with care and gratitude.

The woman who had spoken so carelessly to God watched in amazement as the transformation took place. Only then did she realize who the stranger had been, and she fell to her knees in remorse, gathering up every scattered kernel she could find.

“Please,” she cried out to the heavens, “forgive our foolishness! We did not understand the value of your gifts!”

But the transformation was complete, and the age of giant corn was ended forever. However, God’s mercy was such that He left signs of His original blessing for those who would look for them. Even today, if you examine an ear of corn carefully, you can see that each tiny kernel is perfectly formed, complete with all the nourishment needed to sustain life. Every small ear is a miracle of design, containing within it the potential to feed the hungry and the promise of future harvests.

The story spread quickly throughout the world, carried by the wind and whispered by the rustling of the corn leaves themselves. Parents began to tell their children about the time when corn grew as tall as trees and ears were as large as tree branches, and how humanity’s carelessness had brought about the change.

“This is why,” mothers would say as they carefully gathered every kernel from their smaller ears of corn, “we must be grateful for every grain. This is why we waste nothing, why we appreciate every meal, why we thank the Creator for His provision.”

Children learned to see the beauty in the smaller ears of corn, understanding that size did not determine value. They learned to help with the harvest, carefully collecting even the smallest kernels and understanding that each one represented a gift from God.

Farmers began to tend their fields with greater care, knowing that the corn they grew was precious not because of its size, but because of what it represented—the continuing mercy of a Creator who provided for His children despite their failings.

The lesson of the ear of corn became one of the most important teachings passed down through generations. It reminded people that abundance should inspire gratitude, not carelessness; that blessings should be treasured, not wasted; and that the size or ease of a gift does not determine its value.

Some say that on quiet autumn evenings, when the wind moves through the cornfields and the stalks rustle with their own secret language, you can still hear the echo of God’s words, reminding humanity to be grateful for what they have, to waste nothing, and to remember that every grain of corn is a miracle in its own right.

Others believe that deep in the earth, the roots of the corn plants remember the time when they grew tall as trees, and they share this memory with each new generation of seeds, ensuring that the corn never forgets its origin or the lesson it was meant to teach.

And perhaps, some whisper, when humanity learns once again to truly appreciate every gift, to waste nothing, and to receive every blessing with genuine gratitude, the corn will grow large again, and the earth will return to its original abundance. But until that day, the smaller ears of corn serve as a constant reminder of what happens when we take God’s gifts for granted.

The farmers of today understand this lesson well. They tend their fields with respect, knowing that each kernel matters. They teach their children to gather the harvest carefully, to waste nothing, and to see the wonder in every ear of corn, no matter how small.

At harvest time, when families gather around tables laden with the fruits of their labor, they remember the story of the ear of corn. They give thanks not just for the food before them, but for the wisdom contained in its very smallness—the reminder that gratitude transforms any gift, no matter how modest, into something precious beyond measure.

And in the act of thanksgiving, in the careful gathering of every grain, in the respectful tending of the fields, humanity slowly learns the lesson that the ear of corn was meant to teach: that true abundance comes not from the size of our blessings, but from the gratitude with which we receive them, and that the smallest gifts, appreciated fully, are worth more than the largest gifts taken for granted.

For in the end, the story of the ear of corn is not really about corn at all—it is about the human heart, and its capacity to find wonder and gratitude in whatever gifts the Creator provides, whether they come in the form of giant ears that could feed armies or tiny kernels that must be carefully tended and gathered one by one.

The corn still grows in fields around the world, smaller now than in those ancient days, but no less miraculous, no less precious, and no less a reminder that every blessing, properly received, is a gift worthy of our deepest gratitude and most careful stewardship.