Choosing Love
We have much to praise God about on the farm this fall. He has blessed our efforts, protected our crops and animals and minimized the consequences of my mistakes. We have butchered over 1,500 chickens this season, harvested by hand over a ton of rice, provided eggs to the children’s center, planted our first greenhouse crops, and just last week, butchered our first lamb. The palms are looking great and putting on bundles of fruit that, God willing, we will harvest next year. All in all we are very grateful.
While all of these things are gratifying and give us a sense of accomplishment, on their own merit they are not the important things.
I don’t have to tell you that. You know well that the things that are most important in our journey with Christ are not measured by the pound or balanced on a ledger and yet, when we look back at where our focus was we often see the shadows of a set of scales and a calculator.
Did I love?
Did Jesus’ love flow through me?
One of the tough lessons of the last few months has been to remember that love is not just a feeling, it is action – not just action on a grand scale, but action down to the most mundane task.
I have a choice each time I turn a compost pile, pluck a chicken or fix a fence. I have a choice each time I talk with a co-worker, give a person a ride into town or visit a family in the sticks. I have a choice when I do school work with the girls, talk to my wife, send a note to a friend.
That choice is love.
Setting my heart in the direction of my hands.
This simple choice turns chicken plucking, long hikes to a village and chats with my wife into love. Unless these tasks become love they have no value, (See Corinthians 13) and, without value, they are not fit to offer as sacrifices of praise and worship.
Can the world tell the difference between a chicken plucked in love and one plucked out of duty to complete a task? Honestly I don’t think so. Maybe our countenance changes a bit but really … It is our Lord who knows the difference. He sees our heart and smiles as His children bring him little treasures.
So, our ministry is refocused. Chickens still get plucked, families still learn better farming methods and children still learn history, but something bigger takes place.
Thy kingdom comes!
Father, set my heart in the direction of my hands.
