Glory... What? {Emma}

Soooo... A little bit of life from my perspective? Today I was out in the garden when it was ninety-some degrees and the humidity was problably some where in the 80% range. I was itchy from squash, uncomfortable clothes, and sweat aggravating various rashes I've picked up; bending down for forty-five minutes straight, endeavoring to discover every single patch of squash-bug eggs, and every single hatched or adult squash bug, so that I could squash them (they smell like jolly-ranchers just FYI :-P ). Finally getting a stiff neck I nearly gave up on the last row. Later I drove up to our half-mowed pastures in an old beat-up truck with my mother (both of us in our un-flattering grubbies) to milk a (very sweet) cow who is covered in flies, ticks, dirt, and scabs. Nobody in our house is feeling good except for me and the three little ones. It's 10:30 and I still have a kitchen to clean and some food to make (for my amazing Daddy). Every time I close my eyes all I can see is a mass of Japanese beetles (I picked those off of plants today too!) or a squash-bug infested plant. *shivers* Livvy is out on the couch from a bee sting that swelled her pinky up and is threating to do the same to the rest of her hand (and apparently it's painful, cuz Liv is not a whimp and she's taken two Benedryl and a Tylenol already.)

Now please understand, none of the above is a complaint. It's simply that I realized quite clearly today that farming is NOT glory-filled work. It's chock full of sweat, bugs, discomfort, aggravating itchy-ness, blood, dirt, and headaches. But you know what? Even though it's not glory-filled work, it is glorious work. Not glamorous. Not easy. Not always enjoyable. None of that is what makes something glorious. Was Christ's death on the cross, with nails through His precious hands and feet, glory-filled? Absolutley not. It was His greatest moment of shame and disgrace. He was dying the death of thieves and murderers, in the place of thieves and murderers. But, Oh! That moment in history was the most glorious of all. The clouds grew dark "to shut His glory in" (as an old-hymn says). Our Lord has given us a picture of a glorious life, not a glory-filled life. And He brings His sheep behind Him. My life is not glory-filled (and probably will never be!) but oh my! How incredibly GLORIOUS it is!

~Emma