Planting Time

     God grants me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, gives me the courage to change the things I can and gives me wisdom to know the difference.  I struggle with three simple words.  What. When. Where.
     I am glad that i do not depend on farming for a living anymore.  Instead I put in a little seed for the wildlife.  A couple years ago, my cousins Bradley and Ryan  and I just up and figured it was time that we get with the times and start putting in food plots.  Ryan has a little land up north of town in a swamp.  I remember planting trees with his dad Eddie up on that farm.   I don't know how it all happened, but we worked up a little one year and scattered a little soybeans by hand.  While they were growing we got this bright idea to work up a little more for the following year, so we resurrected a few old implements, gave Eddie's WD45 Allis Chalmers a little TLC and went to work.  The next year came and we got a hold of an old corn planter, we worked up a little more.  Now we have about 15 acres to plant, and our conversations each spring are debates and debacles about what to plant, where to plant it, and when.  As of today before this last rain shower we have about 3 acres of corn and 4-5 acres of soybeans.
     So the debate and questions sometimes seem rhetorical for the sake of hearing the answers and opinions of the what, where, when to plant.  Many frustrations and feelings occur arise out of those questions. Sometimes tiffs or arguements. The Bonds of men through hunting and family ties must be considered.  Ryan and his sister own the land and a tractor.  Bunky has the planter.    Bradley has a sprayer.    We all come up with some seed. it seems.   Little chess games need to be played until someone finally goes out and  just starts putting seed in the ground.   It's not anything close to precision farming and by today's standards of auto steer and satellite technology, we are lucky to stay straight for fifty feet in a row (depending on who is driving). The actual money farmers don't get a vote on whether the crop is good or bad.  Only the benefits of wildlife and  hunter's that share the benefits of being in our gang share the satisfaction of coming to hunting ground that has been enhanced for the enjoyment of living an outdoor lifestyle that has been handed down to its benefactors for 5 generations.
     I didn't get to plant last year.  Didn't get to watch the plot grow.  To top it off, I didn't get to hunt.  " How unfair," I thought.  But little did I know that this was the least of my problems.  They did get worse.  Life as it would have it moved from the recreational wa waaas of bickering kids in a sandbox to things that people in a free God loving society shouldn't have to go through.  Many stories of women from the Bible come to mind Eve Deborah Delilah Jezebel.  The reader should get the picture and I choose not to tell thier stories.  My story is of the aftermath and I am a guy.  It reminded me of the Story of Jacob with his dysfunctional family problems;  more so, his son Joseph.  Such is life when times when life doesn't treat a person fair.  Gen 37:23-24, "So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing.  Then they grabbed him and through him into the cistern..."  It got worse for Joseph.  He was thrown in prison, made a slave, but he made his best to serve the Lord.  And in the end things turned out for all around him.
     Oh those brothers of Joseph.  Oh those kids, wives, cousins, friends....  If they....
     Joseph was granted courage to change the things he could.  Serenity?    How could he have that all the time.  We need serenity to accept the things we can not change.  First I cannot change other people's attitudes or their actions.  I have to accept the consequences of my own actions and take responsibility for my past failures.  1 Sam 15: 11 ," 'I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.'  Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night."  I can only look at the decisions that I have made, look at the seed I have sown and say yes.  That was me. I did these things.  This is my part. These are rows that I planted and the seed I used for the ground I put them in.  Try to make them right.
     Wisdom!  What is the difference in knowing between the things I cannot change and having courage to change the things in which I can?  Well for me the answer is  prayer and scripture.  I must pray for God's will to be shown to me and to make me willing to live in the spirit of obedience.  My father a fellow hunter isn't here to hold my hand any more and my children are old enough  that their grip in times of need seem less firm.  Others express their opinions on my future decisions. But ultimately they don't get a vote.   Just as when those questions arise of what where and when to plant in a simple little food plot for wildlife; it is not much different in the question of human life.  The question ,"If" is in the middle of the word L"if"E. It always seems that I find the answers in the Words from the Bible.   Living obedient to those words where I hadn't before is the only wisdom I have found to make a difference.  Praying for God to show me His will and to give me the right seed to plant in others.  I must live in a spirit of gratitude for the lessons and tests in life.  Be where I can live and act in a spirit of obedience and guard it all the time.
      For those who Believe,  Jesus also struggled, but accepted, In Luke 22:42-53  Jesus is met by his betrayer, neither panics nor is frantic ...simply offers a simple question," Judas, did you come to betray me with a kiss?"  Then he healed again a slave who has his ear cut off.  Jesus first asked ," if you are willing, remove this cup from me." Likewise serenity is not simply detachment – distancing ourselves from our dreams and desires. Rather, what we see in Jesus is a continuance of his mission…with hope! It is a trust that God is good and out to do good to us always.
     As Paul wrote, “God works for the good in everything with those who love him and are called according to his purpose.”
     I have planted my seeds now as straight and true as I can in the best places and most ready where God has shown me to plant in this time between the rains. God has shown me many ways in which he wants me to trust Him.  I will continue to plant each year straighter rows with better seed suitable for the right purpose .  I will watch for the plants to flourish , grow and hopefully mature.  And I will travel back to the plots to see where my Faith is good, my Trust is reaffirmed.  And continue to see the good in where my failures of tests have lead me.  And fear not- knowing that in the journey I am doing the best I can.  My Peace.