Less than a hundred years ago, cotton was still king in the South. Entire regions almost completely depended upon this one crop. Southern farmers began to realize the precariousness of a one-crop economy as rumors reached them of a boll weevil epidemic spreading from Mexico into Texas and heading their way. Sure enough the boll weevil reached LA (lower Alabama, not the city of angels) by 1915, destroying that year's cotton crop and causing a regional depression.
One farmer from Enterprise, Alabama proposed a solution. He convinced the farmers of Coffee County to diversify their crops, specifically encouraging them to plant peanuts. At the same time, George Washington Carver, an African-American scientist working at nearby Tuskegee Institute, was researching and popularizing new uses for the peanut, so the crop sold well. The diversification was good for the soil, which had been depleted by years of cotton crops.
In hindsight, the residents of Coffee County recognized that the boll-weevil epidemic had been one of the best things to ever happen to their economy. They decided to commemorate this epidemic in a way that many have considered odd. They placed a monument to the boll weevil in the middle of downtown Enterprise. Today locals proudly claim that the Enterprise boll weevil monument is the only known monument dedicated to a pest.
In spite of its unconventional nature, the boll weevil monument is a source of inspiration to me, representing people who were able to recognize that a disaster in their midst turned into an unanticipated blessing. They did not give themselves the credit for ingenuity, because they might never have considered crop rotation if they had not been forced. They graciously praised that which had cursed them and learned to consider the boll weevil a “friend” in disguise.
When that which we view as disastrous strikes in our lives, it is natural to feel persecuted. Why me? What have I done to “deserve” this? We are tempted to give up, convinced that there is no way to surmount the obstacles we face. Or, we might be tempted to react in defiance in an attempt to prove our toughness to the world. But there is a third option; we can respond in humility, waiting to see how God might use tribulations for our good to bring us closer to Him. When we especially see the good coming out of evil, we should respond in thankfulness. Each example of God's grace turning hardship into holiness should give us further confidence to trust Him when the next blow comes, as it inevitably will.
But there is another lesson I learn from the Enterprise monument. It is the lesson of passing down the redemptive lessons we learn to future generations. Although we may have good intentions about passing down our important life lessons, fleeting time and failing memories make this rare without memorials of some kind to prompt our remembrance. As Joshua led the people of Israel into the Promised Land, they encountered what looked like an insurmountable barrier in the form of the River Jordan at flood stage. God parted the river and allowed the people to pass through on dry ground. God knew His people's tendency to forget even miracles, so he had Joshua instruct twelve men to set up stones of remembrance (Joshua 4:5-7).
There are many different ways of setting up memorials to God's faithfulness, and they don't have to be set in stone. But, may God help us to be alert for His redemptive hand in all our trials and find ways to commemorate His blessings. Your children and your children's children will reap the rewards.
Pastor Mullinax