Sep. 2, 2022
THE HEAVIEST HAY
I put up a lot of hay back in my day. It would cause great excitement when a farmer would come into town looking for help in the hayfield. We would all take off for home to ask our parents for permission to do this. I remember working all day for $1:50 an hour. At the end of the day , I would come home tired and dirty but filthy rich and that made it worth the while.
Some of the farmers were harder to work for than others. Some had pretty daughters that went to the field with us and now I realize they knew how to market long before I knew what that was. Some of them had their wives prepare such large food amounts and samples after we were done that we probably would have worked for free.
I look back on those days and cherish those memories. Often I will tell a tale or two as I am about to do with you now.
As we reloaded the hay he said something I will never forget. he told us that this is the heaviest hay we would ever put up. He explained it wears and tears on you when you have to do what we now call a do over.
It was getting late in the day and we all were wore out. We had just one more trip out into the field. As the wagon filed up , our spirits seem to rise because we knew the cash and the vittles were getting closer. The farmer we were working with was an elder in our church. His name was Cecil and his wife was Ruth and he called her Ruthie. We had just a few more bales to go and we would be heading back to the barn. Ruth was driving the tractor and she turned too sharply going down a hill and the hay shifted and we lost more than half of the loaded wagon. It was the first time and the only time I ever saw this gentle man of God lose his cool . He was hot and he forgot for just a minute he was an elder and that young boys were with him. He started yelling at her in frustration. Her sharp turn caused him to speak sharply to her. He never said a cuss word but he stopped almost mid sentence when he realized both. I remembered that he calmed down very quickly and he apologized to her. I learned that even the best of us can have a off moment. It allowed us to see what we should do when we have blown out stack. We were taught what we should do when things do not turn out as we would like.
About a week or so ago , I did a blog about our house called' TILL THE COWS COME HOME'. I liked the story and was pleased with how it turned out. It is hard for me to type and it takes a long time. I am not good with this kind of stuff and to be honest, do not care for it . Why do I do it then? I feel that this is what God wants me do and how I am to share my thoughts at this time.
Someone contacted me and said the story was missing. My heart sunk when I was told this. To my dismay , I found that indeed the words were lost. In my haste to get done, I lost the entire load! I have found
that many times we will have to do ... do overs. Sometime we get mulligans and other times not the case. May lord give us the strength we need to persevere even on heavy hay days when we can. May the Lord comfort us in those situations when we cannot.
If you life is empty , fill it with Christ.
Woodrow Kroll
Horace
Mistakes are their own instructors.
You can preach a better sermon with your life than your lips.
Oliver Goldsmith
