I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread. That can’t be right.” ~ Bilbo Baggins, The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien
It is the ordinary duties and labors of life that the Christian can and should develop his spiritual union with God. ~ Thomas Merton
And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. ~ William Shakespeare
Life is like playing a violin solo in public and the learning the instrument as one goes on. ~ Samuel Butler
Four-fifths of all our troubles would disappear, if we could only sit down and keep still. ~ Calvin Coolidge
The spring breeze gently wafts across the softball field which is next to a pasture which is still populated with remnant corn stalks from last autumn’s bountiful harvest. The warmed ground is beginning to show signs of new life, sprouting growth and tender green shoots which are tempting to the rabbits and young deer. The fragrance of spring is pungent: the hyacinth with its heady bouquet, the daily showers with their cleansing deluge, and oh, the pastures. The predictable activity of the farmers with the warming weather, they have begun fertilizing their square miles of acreage with rural perfection. As I drive from piano lesson to baseball practice to softball practice, I cannot avoid the amount of rural activity which happens so close to my home. There is a strong perfume, a pasture perfume, and its smells incredible to me, but it can also knock you off your feet and grab your attention. Whoa!
Our life is deeply centered within a rural setting and the signs of spring bring a compelling activity to prompt growth from the soil and from the pasture. Lambing season is always the first signs of new birth on a farm, and the local fields now have baby lambs grazing with mothers, learning and running and tripping in their tiny attempts to figure out their life. There is no quick traffic, for several farmers have their large machines which join traffic and maneuver their left turns with greater cumbrance than my small van, and it is important to drive patiently and cautiously when they are included with other traffic which wants to drive at 70 mph. The size of these large tractors and combines with their enormous attachments for plowing, seeding, ground breaking and tilling is phenomenal as they can occupy ¾ of the road for the 1 mile they need travel to enter the other side of the farm to work again. The blades and back hoes, giant bucket and flat beds with giant spinners – they really do look incredible.
A few families on our 2 softball teams are farmers – cattle and corn – and they have been describing the daily life they tackle, embrace and live every day. Yesterday was a day in which the dairy farmers had purchased another 30 cows to add to their 130 head. I don’t even have a dog and this family has over 160 cows – AMAZING! The feeding. Milking. Mucking. Examination for injury or infection within the hooves. Management of the dry cows, who are pregnant and preparing for delivery. There is a short time in the afternoon, when all of the animals are cared for which allows for personal duties, then softball practice, and then it begins again.
I typically arrive at softball or baseball practice from a hectic day, typically sending some of my children with their coaches so I can make it to one practice. I’ll get to another practice for another child on another day. Dinner is an early, quick and light affair (we eat about 4:30 in baseball season, and really, no one wants to try to turn a double play with a stomach filled with mashed potatoes and gravy.) We’ll have a snack before we go to bed, so even though we are more hungry than usual, everything will be fine. My office work and ministry keep my days filled and moving, my graduate studies keep a book in my hand at every open moment, my children’s schedule keep me on the constant move.
But I don’t have anything in my life that is close to the demanding schedule that these farm families encounter. If I’m still awake at 11:00 p.m. it has frequently been my choice of how to use my time (i.e. it is easier to get school or office work completed after the kids are in bed) but for this dairy farm family it is 11:00 p.m. from the second feeding and milking of the herd and barn.
When describing her schedule, M. was trying to be as positive as possible but was quite discouraged by others who were complaining about “how busy life is”. I had been listening to these conversations as closely as I could, aware that I haven’t been to many of A. practices and that I am still new to many of these moms. I had stated that “It must be exhilarating and exhausting to be involved with sustaining new life everyday. Its God’s work and it can take everything you have to be involved with it.” She didn’t say anything then, but later as we waited for our darlings, who were now covered in mud, she stopped and shared a smile and gratitude for hearing what she was saying and understanding that farming for them isn’t just a trade, or a trained vocation or exclusively a chance to provide food. It is their family’s connection to God’s activity. Spring tilling, and planting and large animal birthing has kept them from being able to be at church recently, and her soul was hungry to hear from God.
My Bible present, a few minutes to share: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:15-17, NIV
It is a privilege to share in God’s activity and honor Him with everything we do. We give thanks to God for our life by using each aspect of our life to praise and worship Him with excellence. Embrace the realm of life you have, whether it is defined by a cubicle or the back 40, and do everything you can with excellence. Frost those cupcakes with excellence. Return that fax with excellence. Tend to each patient with thorough excellence. Complete the curriculum parameters with excellence. Answer the office demands with excellence. Get the dry cleaning, return the library books, and complete the grocery shopping with excellence. Write that sermon with excellence. Feed the livestock with excellence. Complete the sale of that house with excellence. Clean the bathtub and complete the laundry with nothing short of excellence. God is honored with excellence!
It is the ordinary duties and labors of life that the Christian can and should develop his spiritual union with God. ~ Thomas Merton
And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. ~ William Shakespeare
Life is like playing a violin solo in public and the learning the instrument as one goes on. ~ Samuel Butler
Four-fifths of all our troubles would disappear, if we could only sit down and keep still. ~ Calvin Coolidge
The spring breeze gently wafts across the softball field which is next to a pasture which is still populated with remnant corn stalks from last autumn’s bountiful harvest. The warmed ground is beginning to show signs of new life, sprouting growth and tender green shoots which are tempting to the rabbits and young deer. The fragrance of spring is pungent: the hyacinth with its heady bouquet, the daily showers with their cleansing deluge, and oh, the pastures. The predictable activity of the farmers with the warming weather, they have begun fertilizing their square miles of acreage with rural perfection. As I drive from piano lesson to baseball practice to softball practice, I cannot avoid the amount of rural activity which happens so close to my home. There is a strong perfume, a pasture perfume, and its smells incredible to me, but it can also knock you off your feet and grab your attention. Whoa!
Our life is deeply centered within a rural setting and the signs of spring bring a compelling activity to prompt growth from the soil and from the pasture. Lambing season is always the first signs of new birth on a farm, and the local fields now have baby lambs grazing with mothers, learning and running and tripping in their tiny attempts to figure out their life. There is no quick traffic, for several farmers have their large machines which join traffic and maneuver their left turns with greater cumbrance than my small van, and it is important to drive patiently and cautiously when they are included with other traffic which wants to drive at 70 mph. The size of these large tractors and combines with their enormous attachments for plowing, seeding, ground breaking and tilling is phenomenal as they can occupy ¾ of the road for the 1 mile they need travel to enter the other side of the farm to work again. The blades and back hoes, giant bucket and flat beds with giant spinners – they really do look incredible.
A few families on our 2 softball teams are farmers – cattle and corn – and they have been describing the daily life they tackle, embrace and live every day. Yesterday was a day in which the dairy farmers had purchased another 30 cows to add to their 130 head. I don’t even have a dog and this family has over 160 cows – AMAZING! The feeding. Milking. Mucking. Examination for injury or infection within the hooves. Management of the dry cows, who are pregnant and preparing for delivery. There is a short time in the afternoon, when all of the animals are cared for which allows for personal duties, then softball practice, and then it begins again.
I typically arrive at softball or baseball practice from a hectic day, typically sending some of my children with their coaches so I can make it to one practice. I’ll get to another practice for another child on another day. Dinner is an early, quick and light affair (we eat about 4:30 in baseball season, and really, no one wants to try to turn a double play with a stomach filled with mashed potatoes and gravy.) We’ll have a snack before we go to bed, so even though we are more hungry than usual, everything will be fine. My office work and ministry keep my days filled and moving, my graduate studies keep a book in my hand at every open moment, my children’s schedule keep me on the constant move.
But I don’t have anything in my life that is close to the demanding schedule that these farm families encounter. If I’m still awake at 11:00 p.m. it has frequently been my choice of how to use my time (i.e. it is easier to get school or office work completed after the kids are in bed) but for this dairy farm family it is 11:00 p.m. from the second feeding and milking of the herd and barn.
When describing her schedule, M. was trying to be as positive as possible but was quite discouraged by others who were complaining about “how busy life is”. I had been listening to these conversations as closely as I could, aware that I haven’t been to many of A. practices and that I am still new to many of these moms. I had stated that “It must be exhilarating and exhausting to be involved with sustaining new life everyday. Its God’s work and it can take everything you have to be involved with it.” She didn’t say anything then, but later as we waited for our darlings, who were now covered in mud, she stopped and shared a smile and gratitude for hearing what she was saying and understanding that farming for them isn’t just a trade, or a trained vocation or exclusively a chance to provide food. It is their family’s connection to God’s activity. Spring tilling, and planting and large animal birthing has kept them from being able to be at church recently, and her soul was hungry to hear from God.
My Bible present, a few minutes to share: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:15-17, NIV
It is a privilege to share in God’s activity and honor Him with everything we do. We give thanks to God for our life by using each aspect of our life to praise and worship Him with excellence. Embrace the realm of life you have, whether it is defined by a cubicle or the back 40, and do everything you can with excellence. Frost those cupcakes with excellence. Return that fax with excellence. Tend to each patient with thorough excellence. Complete the curriculum parameters with excellence. Answer the office demands with excellence. Get the dry cleaning, return the library books, and complete the grocery shopping with excellence. Write that sermon with excellence. Feed the livestock with excellence. Complete the sale of that house with excellence. Clean the bathtub and complete the laundry with nothing short of excellence. God is honored with excellence!
1 comment:
As a church staff we have been studying what it means to be godly, effective and excellent. No one has really given me a good definition of excellence since it is so subjective. I have reread you post so many times and wanted to thank you for giving me a good definition and word picture of excellence.
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