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| Ivan |
For me, normal has always included many green, leafy and blooming things. Purring things. And, within the last few years, clucking things. With the long summer days, conditions are perfect to nurture a flock of beautiful laying hens. Besides, they could actually SAVE us money with all those eggs! How could we possibly loose especially with hens named Zezebel, Jael, Rahab, Sapphira and Eve with Deborah thrown in for good measure (and because I couldn't handily think of any other "Bad Girls of the Bible").
The coop was still solid despite the previous massacre by marauding foxes. In no time, it was swept and loaded with fresh cedar chips, fresh water and feed. Even Ivan the rooster was dusted off and waiting expectantly. One thing remained - a secure run which would protect our girls whilst giving them freedom to roam safely.
Don's handy! The skeleton of a run was already in place. We had a re - purposed gate and some mangled chickenwire ... Pennies and the girls would be clucking contentedly in their backyard right? Wrong! As the date for the ladies' arrival loomed, the project grew in complexity. Simple metal posts morphed into 10 inch cedar posts. Post holes that should have been completed in an hour took a full weekend of work as spades slammed mercilessly into two foot bolders. Innovation by a man with incredible ingenuity and shear determination removed the bolders only to have the spade dulled on bedrock. Cement them in you suggest? Excellent idea! There was one slight problem, holes needed to be drilled in the bedrock to secure metal rods to secure the cedar posts, to secure the gate...well...you get the idea! A "simple" run with its many hours of construction (to the delightful hum of our northern blood sucking friends) and all the attendant trips to the local hardware for "this and that" left us lamenting the extremely high cost of "cheep".
But there is another kind of cheap that is eternally costly - the cheapening of our purpose. We are commanded in Deuteronomy 6:5 to " ... love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength". This is expanded by Jesus in Matthew 22: 37-39 to include loving our neighbour as ourselves.
"All" seems fairly inclusive. All of my life must be locked into this consuming love for Jesus and others. All of my life must be focused and purposeful in obedience leaving no room for the insidious leeching of time and energy and resources by cheap distractions.
Invariably, like our chicken run, when I choose to prioritize comfort, stuff, family, hobbies, experiences, memories....you name it....whatever it is will cost much more than I thought, consume more time and money than I have and leave me feeling more dissatisfied and frustrated than I imagined. God knew this when He commanded us to "Have no other gods before Him" Exodus 20:3. He knew the incredibly high cost of drifting into cheap. God is calling me, calling us, into His divine purpose.
It can't be part time and it will not be cheap.
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