If one lives on a farm or ranch, you soon become what is
often called a “Jack of all trades”. Of course the rest of that saying is "master of none". You usually have to do a little of different things because you usually
can’t afford not to be. Being able to accomplish what needs to be done falls
under the category of what normally takes place for those of us living and
operating an agricultural operation.
One doesn’t become a “Jack of all trades” over night. It
takes years of patience, mostly with yourself, a lot of time watching others
who are good at one thing or another and being willing to not give up when you
make those mistakes you are certainly going to make. Eventually you do figure
out what works and what doesn’t work. Over the years one develops plans or ways
of doing things that work for you and if you follow that plan, the task gets
accomplished just fine. I guess I started learning about “plans and planning”
as a little boy.
I remember when I was a young boy, I would watch my mother
embroider beautiful napkins, pillowcases and tablecloths. Give mom a needle and
thread and she could sew almost anything. Me, it’s dangerous for me to just sew
a button on. I might end up with it sown to my finger. Sewing isn’t one of
those things that I do well. Truth be told, not even adequately.
Back to my mother. Mom would spend hours working within this
small hoop that stretched the fabric tight so she could follow the pattern. She
would work with one color of thread at a time until she finished that part of
the pattern.
To me as a young boy, if I looked underneath the hoop, all I
could see was all these little knots and pieces of dangling threads that made
no sense at all. It looked like a real mess. Looking on the top side of the hoop,”
however, I would eventually see a pattern emerge that followed the plan of an
artist who had originally drawn it. When mom had finished the project, it was
beautiful. It looked beautiful because mom had followed a plan.
There are times when it seems as though life is made up of
many knots and dangling threads. No matter where we look, nothing makes any
sense at all. Sometimes we even feel forced to cry out, Lord, what are You
doing? Or Where are you taking me? Or What’s happening? Sometimes we want to
give up! Sometimes you may want to ask God if there really is a plan. ”
When times are tough, we must turn to and trust in His Word:
“I know the plans I have for you; Plans for good and not for evil; to give you
a future and a hope!” Jeremiah 29:11” Look for the pattern. It’s there!
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