"Hay Field"

I remember summers long ago,

Driving through the hay fields slow,

It’s how I learned to drive, you know,

In that hot and sweaty hay field.

And all about to die of thirst,

Thought, no doubt, I was the worst,

And that hot sun I often cursed,

In that hot and sweaty hay field.

Once they sent me for a drink,

I grabbed a water jar, I think,

But moonshine there, and what a stink,

Right there in that hay field.

No, son, no, the water’s there,

In a thermos, give some care,

And hand to us the jar you bear,

They sipped it in the hay field.

They poured a drop that burned blue flame,

Clear as water, looked the same,

White lightning by another name,

A break in that old hay field.

That was the end of work that day,

I found the water, no delay,

To my surprise and my dismay,

They lay there in the hay field.

I did not know just why they did,

Remember, I was just a kid,

But thought it best to keep it hid,

What happened in the hay field.

I remember all from long ago,

I drove in that old hay field slow,

But a moonshine day stopped all our go,

In that hot and sweaty hay field.

“So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control…” (1 Peter 1:13, NLT)

The poem illustrates how a lapse in judgment can interrupt productivity. Keeping your mind ready and exercising self-control are godly responses to the chaos of life in a darkened world. God wants to use us. He wants to set us on fire and use us to fill the world with His light. This is only possible if we are totally available to Him. If we cooperate with His grace, we become the holy people He’s called us to be. Not “holier-than-thou,” mind you, but holy nonetheless. Being fruitful is God’s will for us, and proactively surrendering our thoughts and reactions to Jesus is a necessary response.

Lord, help us to cooperate with Your grace and exercise self-control, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Brent Flory, brentfloryfineart.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Brent, and God bless you.