Midst the Mud and Manure

It was one of those bright sunny days about which songs are written.  What made it such a delight was not just the sunshine, but the fact that the sunshine had come after two days of an almost five inch rain.  I knew that the pasture might be boggy as I drove the tractor in among the cows with their big bale of hay.  But, after fifteen years and getting bogged down, I knew what areas to avoid.  Everything went as planned.  The hay bale was dropped on the ground and I got off the tractor to roll the big round hay ring over the waiting hay bale.  It was then that it happened.   As I was standing up the hay ring to roll it to the hay bale, I lost control of it and about the same time my foot got caught in some wet hay piled up.  Down I went.  

Fortunately, the hay ring missed me when it came down.  I ended up falling in wet hay that had been soaked by that five inch rain.  I ended up falling in the wet mud caused by the rain and cattle hooves.  But, mostly I ended up falling and rolling in enough cow manure that folks in the next county could have smelled me.   As I have thought about my unplanned landing, and I must confess to doing too much thinking about the most unlikely things, it occurred to me that life is messy.  We may think we have it all under control and then you end up laying in cow manure.  

Trust me, there are worse things which can happen and they do.   But, you know, if God sees the birds of the air and cares for them, (Matthew 6:26), then He surely saw me struggling to get my feet under me in the midst of the mud and manure of the cow pasture, and most assuredly He sees and cares for us when we are fighting to get on our feet in some of the life and death struggles which are a part of the world we live.