Recently, my husband and I took a major trek across the Midwest, traveling from Lake Mills, Wisconsin across Wisconsin and Minnesota to North Dakota, taking Interstate 94 across North Dakota then Highway 85 south to Rapid City, South Dakota, then across South Dakota on interstate 90 to interstate 29, south to Sioux City, Iowa, then across Iowa on highway 20 to Dubuque and Highway 151 back to Madison area. Our car tells us we traveled 2358 miles. We saw great sights such as Mt. Rushmore and the Corn Palace. We enjoyed experiences at stops like Wall Drug. But my husband’s greatest delight was spotting a working tractor. He’s a farm boy at heart still. He loves it when he spots a tractor in the field doing something.
It was days into our trip before he actually spotted a working tractor. We saw several tractors parked in the fields or near the farm buildings. He realized we were somewhat early for harvesting, but he kept thinking he’d see a farmer baling hay or spreading manure or something. But mile after mile of Midwest grain belt and livestock producers, and not a single working tractor. He was beginning to think the countryside was just a movie set, all for show.
And then we came over a hill in South Dakota and there it was, a big John Deere raking hay. He got more excited by that than seeing the Corn Palace in Mitchell. I couldn’t believe it. Our front seat looked like a library with tour books and maps and brochures galore. I was trying to find the perfect sights for him to see when all he really wanted was a working tractor out in a field. You can take the boy off the farm but your can’t take the farm out of the boy.
Life is like that, don’t you know. The journey is different for each of us even though we may share the road. There are certain things that matter, that resonate with us, that others go by without even noticing. We are unique. The LORD created us such.
As I watched his excitement over that darn tractor, I folded up my maps and stowed my tour books. I decided that this journey was for him. I’d seen it all before. This was his first time. I realized that instead of trying to make the trip for him, I’d let him discover his way. I’d be by his side to share in the moment and to give an ear to his jubilation or to his disappointment. I realized all over again on this trip that “one size fits all” doesn’t work in panty hose, sweatshirts, or life.
As I pondered it that night in the hotel room after he’d gone to sleep, I realized that the lesson the LORD had taught me through my husband’s search for a working tractor was a reminder to me we don’t all come to faith the same way. For some of us it is an experience that opens us to transformative conversion. For others it is an encounter with a believer that makes us want to look deeper into what that person believes that makes them who they are. And for others still it is a moment of prayer in a time of need or a scripture passage that suddenly makes everything clear. Our paths into our essential relationship with our LORD and with one another aren’t cookie cutter moments but as unique as we are.
If we are going to bring Christ to others and others to Christ, we have to realize that. And we have to come to know those whom we journey with and be patient for the Spirit to guide us and our companions. We have to have faith. We have to be people of hope. And we must love well and love long.
My husband’s search for that working tractor also led me to ponder what it was on my spiritual journey that finally made it all click, that led to that first and essential conversion moment. I’ve shared before that I believe it was when my father counseled me when I was upset about loss in my life. My insistence that “God takes care of good people” wasn’t true because of the pain I was experiencing was met by his insistence that I look upon a crucifix and ask myself if “God takes care of good people” might look different than I imagined.
As I thought of that moment in my journey, I realized all over again how important companions on the journey are. I gave thanks to the LORD for allowing me to companion my husband along the way especially on this vacation of discovery. I asked the LORD to help me be a good companion.
As we journey on, let us remain open to how the LORD speaks to each of us and how the LORD invites us to participate in the ongoing mission of salvation for all humanity. Let us companion one another along the way, open ourselves to the wonders the others see that we miss, and let us be willing to share with others the wonders we have discovered in our journey in, with and through the LORD.
Until tomorrow, let us all love well.
Σχόλια