Keep Plowing

I remember a time in my life when my Mother gave me some very short, but awfully powerful words of encouragement.  "Keep your hands to the plow..."  It was a time when a few relationships were breaking and I was somewhere between fighting to keep them or moving on without them.  This is not exactly a place anyone ever wants to be, especially someone that is so relationship-oriented as myself.  You can imagine how this decision was more than my fragile heart could take.  My emotional, physical and spiritual health began to decline and my range of focus was gone.

Source

Mom and Dad have always been fighters for me - fighters for our family and without question have always supported us.  They also have zero problems challenging us when we're in the wrong.  They have taught us to take responsibility when needed.  And, in cases like this, taught us to move forward, with my hands to the plow and keep doing God's work - even if that meant going without some relationships.  It's a really hard lesson, but one that has stuck with me. 

In keeping with this analogy - I can't help but think, what happens when a farmer doesn't keep his hands to the plow?  His rows are uneven, his horse (the one he's leading, ironically) gets off track and the harvest suffers.  But, what happens when you DO stay the course?  Callused hands.  My husband likes to brag from time to time about his callused feet and hands because they are markings of work - tattoos of labor.  (Also another reason why he says he'll never get a pedicure - he's proud of those calluses).  Ha!

So, from one set of callused hands to another - let me share a little from this Southern girl's heart:

• Keep your hands to the plow, especially on days that you are tired, weary and heavy-laden.  Sometimes (maybe all the time?) God does His best work when we stop depending on ourselves. 
• Don't look behind you.  It's a dangerous journey when you start to look behind and not at what's ahead.  You could even miss out on some really great stuff. 
• Invest in tools that help CULTIVATE your harvest. I'm not a farmer, but I would guess that they invest in the best tools to help produce the best crop.  In the same way, invest in people that help cultivate the "fruit" in your life.  Are they watering and giving you sun to your soul?
• Callused hands can lead to a bountiful harvest.  I doubt any farmer would look at a row of trees or fruit and say - "WOW, that was so easy!  It took absolutely no labor of love."
• Your obedience and faithfulness in doing Kingdom Work, will always pay off.  The God I serve honors those that love Him and follow Him.  Hang in there. 

So, friends - keep those hands to the plow and remember that you may be surprised what those callused hands will produce...

With Southern Love,
Emily

I am WOMAN...Hear me ROAR!

*Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with sewing, but (I think) completely blog-worthy.* 

For the past 17-ish months, we've been painting, drilling, nailing, cutting, scraping, tearing, and pulling apart and transforming our old house to make it the "new" Siemens' home.  It's been a LOT of WORK and most days, it's no fun.  To be honest, I don't know that I would buy a fixer-up-er again, but every now and then we see a glimmer of hope when a new light is up, a wall is re-painted, or like last night...a piece of our lawn is changed. 

I've had a gargantuan cactus that's starred at me every time I've pulled into my driveway.  It was absolutely hideous and disgusting.  For months, I've toyed with the idea of hiring someone to remove the sucker because it was such the eye sore.  Our front and back yard are complete disasters anyway - but this beast just made it sad.  After working in a one of my front "flower" beds after work yesterday, I kept eye-ing it. So, I picked up a shovel and went at it.  You would have thought I was trying to kill something or was furious and needed to let out some serious aggression.  The rotten pieces actually fell off easily, while the healthier ones gave me a run for my money.  I worked after dark and even flipped on my car port and porch light to help me see the thing.  I waited for the morning to see my work, my hard work, my "I am WOMAN, hear me ROAR" kind-of-work. 

I couldn't find a before picture, but you can see the pile on the left and the spot under the tree where the cactus with legs once stood (on the right).

Food for thought:  In relation to your own life, is there something you have that you may need to get rid of because it's spoiling the life out of you?  I couldn't help but think last night as I was tearing into this half-dead cactus why it took me so long to (at the very least) try to get rid of it?  Of course, it made me realize there may be things in my personal life that I may need to get the shovel out and get digging.  What a difference it makes when I rid of the things that are rotten and only producing thorns.