I was talking to one of my farmer customers today, and it brought back a lot of memories of my days growing up on the family farm. One of the things I never could master was the art of making straight rows when planting corn or milo. My dad and brother could make rows that were as straight as an arrow, but mine meandered all over the place. Needless to say, I wasn't asked to run the planter very often!
The secret to making a straight row was to keep your eye straight ahead to the other end of the field, and not get distracted by looking around at what was going on behind or beside you. You would pick out a land mark at the far end of the field and focus on it until you reached the end. As long as you stayed focused on it, your rows were straight, but if you took your eye off of it for a length of time, you would get off course, and the row would end up crooked. Only by again looking ahead could the rows get straightened out.
What a great lesson for us in life!! If we keep our lives focused on God, we are assured that He will make our paths straight. But when we lose focus, we meander around and can make a mess of our lives. When Jesus called Peter out of his boat to walk to Him on the water, Peter fixed his eyes on Jesus, AND HE WALKED ON WATER! But, when Peter took his eyes off Jesus and saw the water and waves, he became afraid and started sinking.
Hebrews 12:13 says "Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong." Life is hard, and it is easy to take our eyes off of Jesus. But, we must remember that it is only by faith and trusting in Him that we can keep our paths "straight".
Keep focused on Jesus!!
4 comments:
"Coincidently" I was talking to a few folks yesterday about the very sane thing - striking out a land, staying focused, and keeping the line straight. Just make sure you aren't looking at a cow or a tumbleweed for a marker. Those things move.
Yes, and I also know from personal experience that nodding off tends to cause some issues. Hmmmm....flatlander, do I sense a sermon in the making????
Are those multi-braided hairdos also called cornrows? Would it help to have cornrows while planting cornrows? Or is that just corny?!! Ouch, I think I just stubbed the corn on my foot! Quick, pass the bag of frozen corn to ease the swelling!
Ok, I'll can the corn comments!
Great lesson, and great comment from flatlander about making sure what you're looking at isn't mobile. Good point!
I have had the same experience, Kevin, when out swathing. It took me awhile, but I finally have learned how to keep my focus and make a pretty straight windrow. Most of the time when you swath a field, you can find a straight edge to start on and just go from there. (Nodding off is definitely the most damaging move you can make when trying to swath straight!)
You know, I just had a thought. Maybe we could make a deal--I'll go to Emmaus, and you go to lay-speaking academy. What do you think? It seems like a natural fit to me.
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