Many years ago my Uncle Sam used to talk about "torns and tistles" when he was my Sunday School teacher. Of course he meant to say thorns and thistles but couldn't say his th's.
He was telling us about the struggles of life that were promised to Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. God told Adam he would have weeds to fight by the sweat of his brow when farming.
A sour dock is a nasty weed that produces thousands of seeds and can reproduce in road ditches and fields in a hurry.
A Canadian thistle multiplies underground through it's root system and is very hard to kill.
A wild cucumber starts growing late in the season and likes to hog down crops by harvest time.
We're adding our second round of nitrogen to our corn crop. Jan's sister is a nurse and when tending patients used to say, "you want to stay ahead of the pain" when giving medication. When raising corn you want to stay ahead of it's N needs. When the corn plant is asking for N by turning yellow it is already behind the eight ball.
We were still planting beans this past week on ground where we were building terraces and after first cutting hay. We will continue to tile through the planted beans in order to finish the project.
Someday soon I hope to get old enough that all the boys have me do all summer is mow road ditches, waterways, and spray fencerows. It's a job I enjoy and can scout the crops at the same time.
Trees, brush, and horse weeds in terraces and fence rows are a pet peeve of mine. When I notice who has clean or dirty fence rows I'm sure landlords notice as well.
Denny brought out a new septic tank and Irv installed it yesterday at Kurt and Emily's place.
Years ago and still some today when you saw sour docks laying on the road you knew a farmer was out sticking them or having his kids stick them before they got out of hand.
You don't want the "sour docks" of life to crowd out what you were put here on earth to accomplish.
Sometimes we hold worries inside and like a "Canadian thistle" pretty soon those concerns grow under ground. God put folks in our lives to talk to and share with.
When we teach our children how to operate with value and character, then later the "wild cucumbers" of life won't come along and hog them down.
After God talked to Adam about the "weeds" of life He promised He would be there with help. Don't forget to have a "pickup pizza party" once in a while.
Or spending time enjoying what you do.
Or spending time with people you love and care about.
At the end of the day it's not about making a living. It's about making a life.
1 comment:
Wonderful "food for thought", Steve! May we all take action to control the weeds in our lives so we can produce the crop that God has planned for us. May we be willing! Thanks again for the reminder.
Post a Comment