Greening up and Mowing Down

Things are really greening up here- fields and lawns have sprung to a growth level that requires mowing and trees now are in almost full leaf.  The pasture grasses are tasty to the sheep and they contentedly graze all day, reducing their hay intake drastically over the last month. Who wants dry hay when succulent grasses are to be had?   Although this blog will focus on our farm and its impact on our lives, it will also most likely always contain a bit of me just sharing my thoughts as regards observations I make of life around me. I will often wax philosophical here (apologies). See, my mind is constantly looking at day to day things in the light of their symbolic nature because metaphors surround us every day.  Often I can see God's messages to me that way.  Daily things like mowing the lawn......I thought today as I sat atop the mower that these grasses we cut might be a good metaphor for the events, both positive and negative in our lives.  The busyness of our lives sometimes grows and grows.  We agree to add this or that to our schedules, thinking one more thing can be managed. But, eventually, all that activity adds up and we find ourselves, our lives, overgrown, needing a little trimming. If we let it go as it is, things would get out of hand, the weedy, needy parts taking precedence and the sweet parts getting crowded out.  Did any of us find ourselves in the last year saying oh well to the loss of another quality family experience because the "tyranny of the urgent" changed our plans....again?   Sometimes, rather regularly in fact, during certain times of the year, we must get out the mower and give the lawn or the field a good cut. It's necessary for the balance to stay intact.  Did you know that even the sheep don't like the tallest grasses?  They will gravitate to those shorter grasses, with young, lush taste and high nutrient levels.  Maybe we should take a cue from their God-given instinct.  What is the spiritual, moral, or physical nutrient level of our life's different regular activities?  Would the balance be more healthy if we brought the mower into play and did a little trimming?  Just every once in awhile so the weeds don't get out of control-or think they are IN control.  Hmmm...I'm already thinking of some things I'll cut, in favor of something else more important. Keep your mower handy.