2014-0118 - farmers and more

For those of you who pay attention to the dates; I fell asleep last night before finishing my post and getting it published…  So, today, you get two for the price of one.  I also have tomorrow’s post ready so I can rest on the Lords day!

God really has a special place in his heart for farmers.  God placed the very first man he created on His farm to tend to it. 

Genesis 2:8 (KJV) - And the LORD God planted a garden [or farm] eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Jesus loved farmers.  He told His disciples that His Father was a farmer.  

John 15:1 (KJV) - I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Farmers must be the best people in The Word, and the world, at keeping at a thing until the finish.  By the way, some of my favorite people are farmers, and they are a wonderful example of sticking to it.  The hardest part, (and the most expensive, I would guess) comes at planting time and at harvest. 

I would imagine that right now (mid-January) the farmers are busy planning; buying or renting land, counting acres, calculating yields, and reading farm guides for the newest information.  They do their shopping this time of year, they look through seed catalogs, talk to their neighbors to see what the word is, decide what to plant, where to plant it, and how much seed they’ll need for the ground they want to cover.  They take a good hard look at their farm equipment, check to see if any needs repair or replacement, and watch for the sales so they can make the big purchases.  Planning is critical to the farmer.  That corn on the cob doesn’t just happen by accident!  I love the planning part of most anything; I bet the farmers do too!

Come spring the farmers will be a flurry of activity and excitement.  They get to ride around on those big machines tilling the ground, planting the seeds, cleaning out the cobwebs and the winter debris; all of their spring chores seem to be very action oriented, time consuming, and dollar devouring activities.  The farmers are up at dawn, out until dark, and they come home dog tired and hungry enough to a horse.  OK, a figurative horse, not a literal horse, my farmer friends actually prefer their own homegrown beef, that’s literal beef! 

Did I mention that I miss Iowa?  Not necessarily the weather, but the people we left behind when we moved east!  But, I digress.

I wouldn’t guess that the farmers have much time to get bored during the spring, but planting can’t last forever and the summer comes.  They can’t count on the weather, and the days are long and hot, and it’s not terribly exciting watching the corn or the soybeans grow.  So, I’m guessing that’s when the farmers really have to demonstrate patience, their willingness to wait on God, and their dependence upon His provision.  This is the time of year they cultivate “stick-to-it-ness.”  Can I get a patent on that word?

After the planning, and after the planning, the farmers have to patient if they are going to reap an abundant harvest (or, in my vernacular, get to the good part).  Most of the exciting part of getting the farming season started is completed; now it’s time they go out and do the same things, the same way, every day if they want good results.  It’s time to develop those good habits that lead to desired results.

Farmers need to check for weeds, kill the pests, and irrigate (optional on some farms).  Their equipment needs to be maintained, the bills need to be paid, and a hundred other little things that keep a farmer busy call for his attention.  Some things may begin to take on a daily drudgery, and in my humble opinion, that is the real work of farming; they keep at it even when it doesn’t look like fun!

Hhhmmmm!…  When it doesn’t look like fun…  Not fun?  That’s about the time when I’m all about starting a new project; I have been all about the fun!  But, farmers know they can’t do that!  We would think them absurd if they did all that work and then tore it up and started over with something new before harvest, right?  It would be a tremendous waste for them to spend all that time, effort, and money to turn their crops under before they got their first ear of corn.

But, unfortunately, I do that all the time!  I have had many good starts in my life, but have not been good with the daily routines (the weeding and watering, so to speak), that turn those starts into good habits.

My prayer for today...  Dear Lord, Thank you for sending Jesus, He is the true vine, and the author and finisher of our salvation.  Thank you, too, for farmers and for their testimony to you.  They work daily, with faith that you will provide the harvest if they persevere.  Thank you for their example to us and remind me to persevere to your harvest, the abundant life.  Remind me daily that the fields are white unto harvest and that I need to labor to get out the gospel.