Over-driving...

So, the alleged blogging has been pretty sporadic lately. What can I say? Life is good...busy, but good. I've gotten a little lazy in my studying discipline, which has led to laziness in the writing/processing discipline, but I think I'm about to turn over a new leaf (somehow the first day of any month fills me with a sense of purpose!)

I also had one of those mornings on the farm filled with revelation in the simplest things. For example, I rarely drive a tractor. I can only barely drive a car and I am really uncomfortable behind the wheel of a huge, deadly, costly piece of equipment by John Deere. But, on occasion (the occasion being when the driving requires speeds of less than two miles per hour) I am pressed into service. This is usually when we're rolling out irrigation pipe and someone has to keep the tractor driving along a line, very slowly, through the field while the guys unroll pipe from the tractor like a giant roll of toilet paper, making sure it's lying properly in its trench.

Jesse had a short "trunk" run to roll out this morning - a replacement section, really. Seems the first pipe wasn't quite tough enough for a little uphill push of water that was required. It burst a time or two, the guys repaired it, but Jesse ultimately decided to replace that short section with a thicker, more durable pipe.

Lessons there, right? Maybe about being too "thin-skinned" and quick to burst anytime life gives you a little "push." Or maybe the need to toughen up for the rough spots in life - or better - the fact that we can't do anything about our pitiful torn places. It's up to The Farmer to repair - and when necessary, completely replace the broken places. Hmmm.

But working today, what really struck me was a tendency to "over-drive." My instructions were super simple - I was supposed to keep the huge front left tire directly on top of the existing pipe we were replacing. The path was very clearly laid out in front of me, about four feet into a tall, beautiful cornfield. But as you drive across rows, the tractor does a slight bob, a little dance, and I quickly over-correct on the wheel. Jesse usually tries to gently coach me (not today, but often), "Just drive straight, baby." But I weave, not trusting the tractor to stay on the path. How often does this apply to other parts of my life, I wondered, mournfully plowing over the outer edge of the cornfield. (That's a whole 'nother lesson - sacrificing the few stalks along the edge of the field to bring life-giving water to acres and acres of thirsty corn. But I digress.)

I definitely tend to "over-write," in case you haven't observed that by now. And I'm quite sure I've "over-parented" through the years - smothering, attempting to wrangle and control when all I really needed to do was drive straight. In teaching, even in my own spiritual development, there has been the tendency to "over-drive" - wresting control, not trusting the equipment, so panicked over doing something wrong that I over-compensate and veer off anyway.

Well, the pipe was successfully rolled out, reconnected to the line and water will be flowing through it this very evening, bringing life to the crops. And the experience has left me pondering a few questions. So much to learn on the farm.

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I realized when I opened this up that I never posted my Scripture memory for the last half of May. So here are those verses:

"But you are a chosen people,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
God's special possession,
that you may declare the praises of Him
who called you out of the darkness
and into His wonderful light.
Once you were not a people,
but now you are the people of God;
Once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy."
1 Peter 2:9-10

(I tried to type this from memory and fell way short. Need to work on it some more.)

For the first half of June, I'm working on a passage that is familiar, but not committed to memory -

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:8-9

I've always loved these verses, but my appreciation was renewed when I watched this video by Francis Chan recently. What a gracious, wise person he is! So thankful for good teachers!