Monday, April 28, 2008

Unconditional Love Series

 

“I will praise my God as long as I live.”  Psalm 104:33

 

A Row to Hoe

 

When I was a little boy I would go spend summers with my grandfather on the farm.  My grandfather and I would talk as I rode on the back of the tractor. It was hot, dirty work.  All day long I would think of the lake, books I wanted to read, and other things that I would rather do.   Occasionally, I would mention that I would rather be swimming, reading, or playing with a friend.   He would say to me, “We all have our own row to hoe and today this is what we are going to do.”    

 

It’s funny how life turns out.  I guess I have been a person who has just continued to hoe the row I was given or that I chose.  I have been a Methodist minister for all these years.  I did many of the same things year after year.  I preached, married, baptized, buried, taught, visited and called the sick for more people than I can ever remember.   I stayed married to the same woman all these years and raised my kids.   I made commitments to activities like running and now writing.   I have dressed the same and in many ways have remained the same – constant in hoeing this row.   My Dad said that, “Chip and Averette Hale looked the same they always did, just a lot older.”  And so it is.  

 

When I talk about that her sister, Caroline, who is planning to be a social worker and Christina, her other sister a minister, Anna Camille says, “Not me, Dad, I want a more exciting life.”    Actually, the church has never been boring.   I have loved my life and always believed in God and that the church could be its own Camelot.  A better way of life could never be had than what I’ve done.  It has been a thousand lives in one which is what I always wanted.  I believe people like me build a foundation for a community.  

 

There have been huge disappointments - people that I have had faith in who have not been what they seemed, people who I have trusted who lied unnecessarily, and projects that I put a thousand hours in that have failed.   All in all, however, this row to hoe has been a blessing.  

 

When we would start hoeing a row we always set our eyes on some landmark and worked towards it.   Mostly, the rows I hoed were just sitting on the back of a tractor.  There were times, however, I was hoeing around the roots of plants, one to the next.  It is important not to lose sight of the end of the row or the end of the day or the end of the life.   I know I was always proud to finish a task of hoeing a row of any crop, especially if I was really doing it with a hoe.   My sights were always set on some landmark or the end of the field. 

 

Whatever row we have chosen or was chosen for us, we need to keep our eyes on God.  For as we live our lives he can guide us toward the proper finish.  

 

Prayer:

Dear God, help me with my life.  Help me not to lose sight of what is important.  Amen.