Planting season is here!  From March until June, Derek is in the fields planting corn and soybeans, and then caring for them as they grow.  There will be endless days on the tractor, endless worry about the weather, endless records to be managed, and endless wishing we were done.  Planting season is a marathon... but just like all challenges, it comes with its own blessings!   

Spring is Here!

My favorite thing about spring is the sunshine that grows warmer and lasts longer everyday!  It awakens the Earth and calls us outside to enjoy the beauty and peace and happiness that comes from the outdoors.  Springtime is a blessing in and of itself, and it’s beauty and pleasantness makes the weight of planting season so much lighter.  It makes perfect sense when I remember that the One who loves us designed it that way!

You Can Actually See the Change

There is nothing more nerve-wracking than waiting through the days until tiny corn and bean plants poke through the Earth's surface.  But once they do, there is nothing more satisfying than checking them every day and watching the incredible changes that come in the first couple weeks.  The rest of the summer will be a marathon of fertilizing the crops, spraying the weeds, and praying alternately for sunshine and rain.  But for a few weeks in the beginning, my impatient heart is satisfied to watch a million little miracles unfold.

Time Spent Together is So Much More Special

I'll be honest.  The hardest thing about planting season is all the time Derek has to spend in the field.  To call it "overtime" would be an understatement... he’ll start early in the morning and he'll get back long after I'm asleep.  While he's gone, his chores will be added to my chores and all of them must be done.  We will be exhausted, grumpy, and stressed out, but when the spring rains make the fields too muddy to plant we'll both get to relax, refresh, and soak up the time we have together.  On those rare occasions, all the days spent apart make the hours spent together so much more special.  

 The Hope of the Future

Springtime on the farm is full of life and promise.  Warm spring sunrises chase away the chill of winter, while the rains coax lovely flowers out of hibernation.  Line after line of tender green sprouts emerge to point again to glory of the One who created them.  We put all our time and energy into planting seeds now, knowing that in only six months it will again be time to harvest the crops and prepare the fields for winter.   Spring is only a part of the cycle, but it is the piece that reminds us that everything we are doing now, prepares us for the future.  It is the part that encourages us to meet the sun in morning, put in a hard day’s work, and lay down at night excited about the future holds.

During planting season the highs and lows are never that far apart, and they always have more to do with our attitudes than our actual circumstances.  There’s no doubt that our energy will be depleted, our patience stretched thin, and our motivation tested... but at the same time, our days will be filled with the warmth of longer sunshine, sweeter moments, millions of growing miracles, and hope that outlasts our exhaustion.  When we go through the seasons of life that are the most challenging, may we constantly be reminded to pick out the very best things to focus on.

(And yes, writing this post was an exercise in doing just that...)

With a tired but happy heart,

M