Peanut Vendor

Dad planted the peanuts and harvested them. Mom did the roasting in a dutch oven, set up on three rocks, surrounding a small wood fire.

They were hopeful, and I was embarrassed.

We made a paper funnel from newspaper and closed the small opening at the bottom. Into the much wider mouth, we poured roasted peanuts still encased in their salted shells. We filled it up and folded the top closed.

They were excited, and I was anxious.

Monday morning arrived, and along with the weekly school allowance came a half dozen packed, peanut funnels.

“Sell these to your classmates, and bring the money home,” said Mom and Dad.

And now I was ashamed.

Oh, God. I was in the ninth grade, and now, if my friends didn’t already know it, I was almost worse than dirt-poor. I was the poor, anxious, embarrassed, reluctant peanut vendor, self-consciously and reluctantly hawking my goods during the lunch break.

It was a very short-lived career. I sold only a few peanut funnels here and there. I was just too self-conscious and ashamed to encourage much interest in my product.

I wish now that I could have seen myself as a funnel for prosperity to my beautiful family. A wrong attitude and a wrong mindset made me the suckiest peanut vendor ever.

But guess what I discovered? We are all funnels for good or for bad. Hopefully, with the right mindset, we will choose to lean more towards good rather than bad.

 

 

 

Funnel – Daily Post

My New Book on Amazon