January 6, 2021 It wasn’t an easy life, but it was a good one. I tend to be nostalgic this time of year. I fondly remember holidays spent with family, including some family members who are no longer with us. This time of year also coincides with my grandfather’s birthday and the ice storm of 1998, the momentous weather event that collapsed our family barn and ended our time in dairy farming. My father and grandfather ran a dairy farm on my grandparents’ property. It was a small farm, but it brought with it more than its fair share of difficulties. There were a couple silo fires over the years. There were a lot of equipment failures. There were injuries. There was hard work, often in either extreme heat or extreme cold, and often in wet and/or dirty environments. Only grandma was exempt from barn work (at least in my lifetime; I’m guessing there was a time she helped in the barn, too). Kids/teens did hard work. Adults did even harder work. My father was blessed/cursed with only daughters. Our gender did not free us from farm duty. We’d feed and water calves and heifers, clean stalls, prepare cows for milking, toss hay bales down from the overhead hay mow… Despite the difficulties, growing up on a dairy farm was a blessing. My sisters and I spent our free time riding horses, picking berries, throwing hickory nuts or crab apples at each other, sledding down a ridiculously rocky hill or learning sewing, crafting, canning/preserving, gardening… We were always surrounded by family. We learned to work hard and appreciate the fruits of our labor. And my grandparents were largely responsible for my foundation of faith. It wasn’t an easy life, but it was a good one. I’ll be honest: I love when things are easy. I love quiet, easy days at work. I love the easy days of parenting, days when there’s no discipline required. I love the days my husband and I decide to get takeout instead of cooking. I have a saying. It’s something like, “life was a lot easier when I wasn’t practicing my faith.” It was easier. There was no objective moral standard. I could live however I wanted. On top of all that, I could sleep in later on Sundays. Trying to live for and with Christ isn’t an easy life, but it’s definitely a good one. There are challenges as we try to grow our relationships with the Lord and try to conform our wills and our lives to His ways, but there are so many blessings and graces as we navigate those challenges. And we have a chance at an eternal life in heaven, and isn’t that the best life? |
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