Focus

It has been a long couple of months.  It seems sometimes like all we do is sleep, eat, work, eat, work, eat, sleep, and then start all over again.  Usually winter is a slow time of year, but this year, our hired guy was off work for a few weeks with a bad knee and we were finishing up construction and still are tweaking the separator to get the best product.  It just seems never-ending.  Like I said before in another post, problems usually don't come one at a time, they come in groups.

I love living here on the farm.  I love being able to see the calves grow and new cows adjust really well to the robots and barn.  I like the schedule that we have where we can get away for a few days to speak at a conference or tour farms, or just take a break from work to go waterskiing with my family.

But sometimes I just feel like the every day tasks weigh me down the most.  Grandpa likes to say that in every job there is always poop to scrape (in our case, it is actual poop).  Meaning that there will always be jobs that are difficult and messy that no one really wants to do.  But those jobs are important and still need done.

Sometimes, I feel frustrated because what I do here on the farm doesn't feel important.  I want to do something big and important with my life.  Does scraping stalls or pushing manure around seem important?  Not to me.  I know it's important for the cows' comfort and health, but sometimes I just think about what I want.

That's when my focus is not where it should be.  That is when I am selfish, when I don't want to get out of bed, when I don't want to go outside because it's cold, when I don't want to smell like cows, when I don't want to go out to the barn so that my hair can actually be dry when we go to church or somewhere else.

Those are the times that I am not reflecting God's love, I'm only thinking of myself.  And those are the times when I need to be patient and focus on what really matters. 

Peace

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."  ~Philippians 4:6-7

When I read these verses and remind myself of them throughout the day, I feel like I keep my focus less on myself and more on what God has already done in my life and the peace that he gives even in the crazy times of busyness and problems.