A few tears in the farming process

Sometimes teams are made up of individuals each with an agenda of their own. Other times you see teams that work together for a common goal. It’s not hard to realize that those teams, the ones with a united vision, are usually the teams that have the most victories. I shouldn’t be surprised by this and yet it is easy to forget even when the coach of the team has to depend on its members to carry forth towards the goal regardless of whether or not the coach can lead in person. Here is an example in point.

I told some friends the other day that sometimes there are things you blog about and other things that you just leave out. However, after today’s Holy inspired message at church by Pastor Pollock, I had a reversal of decision. You see last week I had a valuable lesson in pride, humbleness, dependence, and trust. I wasn’t even going to blog about it because I felt embarrassed. Yet, if I can’t share lessons that the Lord has shown me then perhaps I have lost sight as to what my purpose on earth really is. I must bring glory to God in all things and this is one of them.

We invited some dear friends over to the farm after church so the kids could enjoy some time together. We were having such a grand time playing at the river, feeding the animals, playing with the dogs, and just visiting around the garden that we soon decided one afternoon wasn’t enough so they spent the night. My friend has two boys and they were relishing the idea of rising early and doing farm chores and being real cowboys for a whole day! So at dawn we wiped the sleep from our eyes and made our weary bones move in the direction of the back door. Everything was going great! The boys were loving every moment of their adventure and even poor Janet (my dear friend) was being a true trooper to walk out to the pasture to help me get a horse to round up one of the sheep.

My desire (and I must emphasize that tell-tale word “My”) was to show off my peeress with the equine family so I quickly snagged one of the horses named Comet. By the way names of horses should be dead give-a-ways as to a horse’s temperament but I’m optimistic by nature which basically translates to “very slow to catch on.” As excitement in the air grew with anticipation of wrangling one of these sweet critters I mounted my mighty steed. Now there are times when one must show an animal who is boss and then there are other times when the animal shows you who’s really the boss. This would be one of those times.

Comet wanted nothing more than to have the morning spent in grazing bliss among all his buddies in the East pasture when I decided to spoil his plans for the day. I had ridden Haley a few days before and it was so much fun and I was looking forward to some more “fun” when Comet, true to his name, took off like a streak across the starlit sky. Only this sky was a bumpy pasture and Comet decided to show some of his buckaroo skills bucked with all his might. You know it just dawned on me where this word must have originated from. A buckaroo was one who either stayed on a horse during the bucking or was the one who flew off during the bucking. I, unfortunately, was the later. In my pride I said to myself, “I know that I will never get bucked off a horse because I never have.” Does that sound as ridiculous as I think it sounds? Yet, I really felt that since I had spent my younger years jumping horses and doing vaulting with horses and never falling off, why should I do so now? Gee, maybe that could be considered optimistic but really I was simply being prideful.

With a bolt and two or three bucks I soon realized that my hypothesis was wrong and the truth of Newton’s law of gravity was soon to be proven. What goes up must come down. I just failed to come down in the saddle. In fact, I don’t even remember feeling the saddle. But as I flew over Comet’s neck and on to the ground two thoughts passed through my mind. One, I now know for sure how Humpty Dumpty felt when he fell off the wall and Two, I kept seeing a giant bottle of Elmer’s glue. Now I’m not sure if I was thinking that I would have to be glued back together or whether I was thinking that Comet would look really good as a bottle of glue but either way one of us was heading to the glue factory. Once again I took that prize.

As I laid on the ground in complete embarrassment and humiliation beyond belief I was trying to think of what to do next. Everyone is gathered around this “buckaroo” and asking all those questions at once; “Are you all right?” “Can you move your legs?” “Where does it hurt?” “How many fingers am I holding up?” Of course all I’m thinking is, “Good I can move my legs so maybe if I click my heels together all this will be just a bad dream and I’ll be back in the house waking up to a nice cup of tea.” Problem number one – I have no ruby slippers and problem number two, this was real not make believe. Finally, as I am beginning to catch my breath I reassure everyone that I am fine and under no circumstances was anyone to move or touch me until I felt it was safe to move. After laying there for about five minutes (which felt like five hours) one of the boys poignantly points out, “Well, you can’t lay there all day.” I knew that but I was considering exactly how long I could stay out there before moving. With Janet sitting by my side, Leanne and Matt grabbing cell phones, I finally relented to the fact that I would have to call 911. I would have to resolve myself to God’s Holy Spirit to move upon my pride and humble me once again. Yet, this is where my amazement came to fruitition when I saw how the “team” worked together despite the absence of their coach.

Leanne and Matt immediately took hold of the situation and opened gates for the ambulance, caught the horse, gave medicine to the lamb, called Daddy at work, called all the necessary people to cancel appointments, and took care of the farm while I was whisked away to the hospital in Aberdeen. My team won a great victory that day and I learned a very valuable lesson. Everyone falls in life and as Pastor Pollock pointed out in Ecclesiastes 3:7 today “There is a time to rend and a time to sew; a time to keep silence and a time to speak.” I speak today because sorrow does allow us time to see with heaven’s eyes and not our own. We stop seeking worldly pleasures and desires and we seek God and His comfort, His truth, and His purpose in all things. I share that my pride got in the way of enjoying a day on the farm and caused anxiety and fear for my dear friends. Yet the paradox is that it served to open my eyes to my sin, it served to bring praise to my lips in seeing my children work as a team in a critical situation, and it served to bring a voice to these silent lips. May we remember that pride cometh before the fall – literally!

Oh, and before I forget, I am feeling better and I have no bruises or broken bones. I’m sore and in time that will heal but for now Comet has a reprieve from the glue factory and the doctor’s have managed to put this old Humpty Dumpty back together again. Praise God for He truly is faithful and merciful.

Many Blessings,
Mother Goose and her little goslings