In our Farmgirl resume this week:
Something was stealing the chicken eggs.... and sneaking away and eating them. Well not really sneaking away because the evidence is pretty obvious... but under the cover of night sneaking away.
Better the chicken eggs than the chickens, I guess.
I would much rather clean up eggs. Hard pass of the cleaning up of chickens. Did that -duck style - and I’ll pass on all future carcass disposals. And so I set my very first animal trap. I have no idea if I actually set it right because we didn’t actually catch anything until we called the pro in. And by pro I mean my tractor coach. That's ok though, I'll just be over here pretending I knew what I was doing and had a hand in catching this thief.
THIS THING IS HUGE. Apparently he had far more chicken eggs than the few we found.
But… no more.
I asked if we could take it and let it go somewhere far away. I was told no.
And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
This might be my very favorite thing to pull in the driveway and see now. My favorite 15 year old out training her horse. It makes my smile every time.
And speaking of 15 year old's… here’s my latest disguise for her and her work friends. It was too cold to actually get out of the car so the rest of the costume and picture with her will come later. As I make my way to blonde might as will have fun with an array of colors. Blonde is my end game…. buuuuuut I think I could embrace the red head thing if need be.
Of course that would mean giving up my farm look. I mean rainboots, athletic shorts and a leather jacket... that works right?!? It's like farmer meets runner meets an attempt at fashion. If you ever see me doing anything other than collecting eggs in the guise of night in this combination of clothing, something is terribly, terribly wrong... I promise... and I am going to need intervention immediately. With a sign, obviously. (someone out there please tell me you picked up what I'm throwing down here?!?).
And in other adventures...
Made a trip over to Holland to see these two.
Found what might be the very last 7-11 ever. Seriously, you guys?!? Do these even still exist anywhere? I think they might be on the endangered species list. And when you find something on the verge of extinction, you take advantage of it, right?!? In this case, in the form of a slurpee... and picture proof obviously. Because did it really happen if there isn't a picture to prove it?
But back to Holland…
Decided to go for a run to the beach again…. Annnnd…
I got passed by a tractor.
Again.
Which would be fine if I was in Goodrich. Buuuut I was in Holland. On the beach. You guys?!? What the actual heck? Where did this tractor even come from? And why are there tractors on the beach. There were no tractors on the beach in Baywatch. Just sayin'. And now we are going to pretend I didn’t just say that and I have no idea if tractors actually existed or not in that show because I've obviously never seen it. Obviously.
Moving on...
By eleven days into March I logged a solid 66.6 miles. Should I be concerned that that is where the rolling number stopped at on this day? I don’t know what that means and I don’t think I want to know. We could obviously jump to the conclusion that running that many miles feels like Hades. The number just verifies it.
I started researching ultra marathons this week. It’s on my bucket list and so I figure now is as good as a time as any. For those of you wondering what an ultra marathon is… let me translate for you. It’s another way of confirming for all of you that I am indeed crazy. Because friends, an ultra marathon means running somewhere between 50 and 100 miles. And since we all know how good I am at moderation… Go big or go home... an ultra marathon in my book obviously means 100 miles. I got the 10 mile run down... now to just do it 9 more times…. One right after another. Hmmm....
And finally...
Today I read Mark 10. And it’s so incredible to me how things I’ve never noticed before can totally jump out for the first time.
As Jesus was setting out a man ran to him and asked him one very specific question…
“What must I do to receive eternal life?”
Jesus told him, “You know the commandments: Do not murder, do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness.. Do not defraud. Honor your mother and father.”
“I have kept all of these from my youth.” Said this man.
And Jesus looked at him and loved him. “You are missing one thing… Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have your treasure in heaven and come and follow me.”
The man went away sad because he was very rich. (from Mark 10:17-31)
I’ve read this account many times before. But this time, this time, one thing in particular brought me to tears.
Jesus looked at him and loved him.
This rich young man, who had many possessions.
The rich young man, who had many possessions, and Jesus knew he would choose those possessions over him.
Jesus looked at him and loved him before telling him what he was missing.
You see, it wasn’t really about the possessions. It was about his heart. Jesus knew this man's possessions were the most important thing to him and in asking him to give them away he was giving this man a glimpse at his own heart. Because his possessions were more important to him than Jesus.
Jesus knew he would choose this earthly god over him and still…
Jesus looked at him and loved him.
And that brings to tears to my eyes.
How many times does Jesus look at me with love and I turn my back on him and walk away? How many times has Jesus looked at me with love and I choose my love of something else over him?
And yet, just like this rich young man, he looks at me and loves me.
Every single time I’ve chosen something else over him, he knew I would choose that. Every. Single. Time. And there’s been plenty of those times. And yet, he looks at me and loves me.
The question was, "What must I do to receive eternal life?"
Ultimately, it is about putting your faith in Jesus Christ and the fact that he died on the cross so that all your sins could be forgiven.
It’s not about keeping the 10 commandments, friends. It’s not about being a good person. It’s not about anything you can do. It’s about your heart. Don’t get me wrong, our hearts are definitely seen in our actions. Our actions should be an outpouring of our hearts. And those actions are great because we can bring glory to God in those. But we're also pretty good at hiding our heart with our actions... until we're not. If your heart is holding onto something other than Christ, if your hope is in what you are doing rather than in what Christ did for you… Well, you're playing a game where you are guaranteed to end up on the losing side of. You'll find yourself much like this rich young man walking away sad.
You can try to keep a checklist of all the commandments you’ve kept and all the good things you’ve done. But that's all it will be, Friends… a checklist.
Jesus looks at you and loves you. Knowing that, maybe it's time to take a look at your heart. Where's your hope? What question would Jesus ask you? What questions would reveal where you heart is at? Is it with Christ first and foremost... or would you find yourself walking away sad?