Ed, my neighbour next door, popped over yesterday to ask a favour. Upon invitation, he stayed for coffee and related the challenges of feeding cattle for his nephew: the drive to and from the farm every day on reoccurring bad roads and terrible weather, a tractor reluctant to start, a water pipe that freezes every time the wind blows from the west, a sly steer intent on running out of the field gate when the tractor enters with a large round hay bale and a rash cow that calved early which Ed predicts will lead to an uncontrollable trend among the other cows before his nephew gets home.
Since Ed had just five days left to feed his relative?s cattle, I suggested Ed savour the experience for the last few days before it was over. ?Hasn?t it been pretty satisfying to be able to help your nephew out?? I inquired.
?I guess it will depend on his insistence on paying me,? answered Ed.
?Aren?t you pleased to do it for nothing?? I asked.
?You bet,? Ed said without any conviction.
Trying to move on, I suggested January is a challenge for most everybody in Saskatchewan. Few people like the reoccurring bad roads and stormy weather. Some of us freeze up in October and begin to thaw out in June.
According to Ed, I was sounding like a snowbird and I should spread my wings and fly away to Arizona or Texas. Much as Ed would relish my moving on, I plan on being his neighbourly challenge for years to come. I told Ed people aren?t happier in the warm south. The only place we will live happily ever after is in heaven. The challenge is learning to enjoy every aspect of life as it comes.
That set Ed off on a long tangent. How are you to enjoy a blocked road filled with snow and you are stuck tighter than a man up to his nose in quick sand? Why didn?t I take him down to city hall and pay his taxes for him and it will be the first time he?ll relish that moment. What about finding out you have cancer or shooting yourself in the foot with a shot gun?
My defence was the bigger the challenge, the greater the difficulty, the more hopeless the situation we face, the more open we become to enjoying every aspect of our lives. When life is treating us good, which is often, we tend to appreciate it less and less. It is human nature to want lives that are as easy and comfortable as possible. To which Ed observed, ?Well, that is better than suffering.? Which, I believe, is how we all feel, but we cannot relish the moment if we haven?t been challenged by difficulty. Who of us hasn?t seen our share of trials?
Challenges can get us stuck in life, but faith in God gives a way beyond the difficulty so that we can relish every moment. The Bible says it this way: ?Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance ? that you may be mature and complete.?
To my comments Ed sighed and said in perseverance, ?Sounds like nonsense again to me.?
