A Strange Turn

Today as I crawled along the ground pulling up weeds between the waist high corn on my left and the tomatoes sprawling out of the cages on my right, it occurred to me that not everyone would experience the same pleasure I was enjoying in the moment.  For folks with better things to do, the row would be too long, the sweat unbearable, and the gnats seeking a home in the ears intolerable.  Better things would start calling and away they would go.    

Sometimes I am not sure why I stay.  Sometimes I am not sure why there is such pleasure and contentment in doing such menial work which creates a need for a bath every night instead of just on Saturday.  I remember my growing up days.  I hated those days when Mom took me to a generous neighbor's garden to pick butter beans or peas. It is truly amazing how life often takes us where we never really thought we would go.    

It was much like that for me when I way about to graduate high school and trying to figure out what to do with my life.  A meteorology career seemed like a good choice.  I had a real fascination with the weather.  And then one night I heard the Holy One calling me to preach.  I did not want to go that way.  About five years after my father's death, my mother re-married and I became a preacher's kid.  It gave me an insider view of the church and I quickly decided being a preacher was the last thing I would ever do.  Strange isn't it?  As it turned out, there was nothing else I would have rather done.  Not every one would choose it.  I am grateful God chose it for me.