For a farmer it always begins here…the field and his shovel. For the farmer there will be no clock to punch in & out to get paid…no vacation break or boss to complain about. The farmer must relentlessly put first-things-first by not allowing any distractions. For the farmer knows if he misses the narrow window of planting season, irrigating the crop, cultivating/exterminating the weeds & pest, or the peak time of harvest…It will bad. The brutal truth, there is no place on the bank deposit form for: Best intentions, trying, feelings, circumstances & emotions, not feeling like it. The bank form only has a place for results. It’s a life of making “Good Choices” at the “Right Time” and “Doing!” It’s a life of adjusting to uncontrollable conditions (weather, markets, pests, regulations, cost, labor, health, supplies & many more) to get a crop planted, grown & harvested. This is why I believe God started His relationship with man on His farm, The Garden of Eden.  

In Genesis 2:8,9, “Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man He had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit.” And then…verse 15, “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.”

Jesus later gave us more instructions in John 9:4 “We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.”

So, what is our field…our work? Jesus clearly told us in Matthew 28:18, “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

I never saw my dad arguing about the weather, weeds or other conditions beyond his control. He focused on his work, the crop. But what about all of the political & societal division? What about all of the wrong that is going on? ANSWER: Go to God’s Word! 2 Timothy 2:23 “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.”

It begins by prayerfully digging into God’s Word, asking Him to ‘you show His way, teach you His paths, guide you in His Truth and teach you’ (Ps 25:4,5). It’s have a default attitude of gratefulness and see people through the eyes of Jesus. In short, do your job!

When you became a Believer, He gave you a shovel, what will you do with it.

PS: And the shovel…it was my dad’s last shovel. He wore out many shovels out in his lifetime.