Out Our Way: Loading the trucks - Psalm 118:1

Out our way, the end of the roundup when we shipped Big Mike's herd east to the feedlots was always a special day. The roundup itself was a long and sometimes difficult process, but when the last cow was run up the chute into the cattle truck and the door was shut, it felt good. Mission accomplished! From calving season in below zero temperatures, through those long hard days of loading, hauling. And unloading feed to the snow and permafrost-covered pastures where grazing was no longer an option through the dry seasons when drought seemed just over the rise, or too much rain turned lush ground into swampland; the payoff came when we loaded the trucks. The farmer knows the same feeling when the crops are harvested, for after the planting, caring and nurturing, comes the day the grain trucks are loaded at last. Normally, the trucks are loaded this time of year and that is why we celebrate Thanksgiving.

Now, most of us are no longer connected with the farm or the ranch aside from our visits to the grocery store, but we still get the idea - and while we may never saddle a cow pony or drive a tractor, we all understand that there is a time of harvest when, in one form or another, the trucks will be loaded. For in the end, all of us reap what we sow, and what goes into the truck depends when harvest time comes depends on what we do in the time before the trucks arrive.

I recall in Wyoming, some old-time ranchers and farmers shared with me why they saw so many of their neighbors go under. It wasn't just the weather or the market prices, or the thousand other factors that impact for good or ill the farm/ranch industries - they all faced the same conditions - it was the effort they and their neighbors put into things. Some understood the importance of making the care and maintenance of equipment, land, the stock and or seed was a priority. They put in the effort to get it right and strived to improve those efforts. They succeeded and they generally loaded the trucks at the end of the season to capacity. Others didn't take the time or effort, being almost indifferent in their tasks. These were the ones who, in many cases, had little to nothing to load when the trucks came. 

You get the analogy here, I suspect. The "trucks" are coming for us all in time, and what we have to load - or don't have - will depend on what we are doing - or not doing - with all we have been given now. Thanksgiving is not just a time for thanking God for this past year, but also reflecting what we did with it. It is also a time to consider what we will do with this coming year. How was the harvest? What was the count? Was the truck full when the door shut this year? What will it be when the last truck comes and not just the year but our whole lives are loaded in?   

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Brother John   

--

The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].