SELLING
ONIONS

Topics: Attitudes; Meaning; Money; Motivation; Priorities; Traditions

References: Ecclesiastes 5:10–15; Matthew 4:4; 6:24; James 1:9–11

At the market in Mexico City, old Pota-lamo had twenty strings of onions for sale. An American tourist asked, “How much for a string of onions?”

“Ten cents,” said Pota-lamo.

“How much for two strings?”

“Twenty cents.”

“How much for all twenty strings?” asked the American.

“I would not sell you twenty strings,” replied Pota-lamo.

“Why not? Aren’t you here to sell your onions?”

“No,” replied the old merchant. “I am here to live my life. I love this marketplace. I love the crowds and the red serapes. I love the sunlight and the wavering palmettos. I love to have friends come by and say buenos dias and talk about the babies and the crops.

“That is my life. For that I sit here all day and sell my twenty strings of onions. But if I sell all my onions to one customer, then my day is ended. I have lost the life I love—and that I will not do.”

—Mark Moody, “In Search of Renewal,” Strategic Adult Ministry Journal (no. 139)