I am so content in our farming lifestyle. I begin every day filled with gratitude that my life has taken such a gracious turn. And I end each night satisfied by God’s goodness and blessing. But there is no Gravy Train on a family farm.
Gravy Train: A job or project that requires little effort but yields considerable profits
Synonyms: lap of luxury, life of Riley, life of ease
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition© 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition © 2012 by the Philip Lief Group.
Perhaps the picture seems idealistic:
fresh milk in the refrigerator,
eggs from free-range chickens for breakfast,
homemade jam on homemade bread,
heirloom garden vegetables,
bowls of juicy hand-harvested berries,
lush green pastures with contentedly grazing cattle,
shelves stocked with healthy home-canned goods,
delicious, grass-raised beef.
But all of these things exist only AFTER the work . . . work that requires considerable investment of time, money, education, physical effort, and emotional fortitude.
There is a cost for living the ideal.
I coulddecide that farming isn’t really for me. I could decide that the mornings come too early, or the investment isn’t worth the benefits, or the elegantly simply lifestyle isn’t worth the muddy boots and sore joints. But I wouldforfeit the blessing:
No beautiful, brown eggs.
No morning-fresh milk.
No bountiful, heirloom garden.
No baskets of organic berries.
No healthy, delicious, home-canned products.
No lush, green pastures of contentedly grazing cattle.
I look at Christianity the same way. There is no “Grace Train” in Christianity.
No forgiveness without repentance.
No blessing without servitude.
No relationship with God without a lifestyle of prayer, Bible study, and submission to His leadership.
Read 2 Peter 1:1-11
The “good life” . . . both on a farm and in God’s Kingdom . . . requires a lot of work. A life of blessing, joy, and peace in the Lord Jesus . . . and of rich, farm-fresh goodness . . . are BOTH beautiful gifts of God’s amazing grace AND stewardships that require hard work, dedication, and faith. Both Grace and Works. Both free gift and daily labor. Gravy Trains and Grace Trains imply effortless blessing. But idle hands and lazy hearts have neither the capacity to hold nor the strength to steward God’s rich, abundant goodnesses.
This is my Sweet Caramel Royale on the day she was born at Freedom Farms. Achingly cute, huh? She is here with us at Kirkhaven Farm because of the faithful stewardship/hard work of Sally and Warren Coad AND the abundant blessing of our genenerous God.
I asked my Heavenly Father for a dun heifer calf this past summer and He graciously gave me Sweetie (she is a special short-legged Dexter . . . which is a blessing BEYOND the scope of my simple prayer)! One day she will be a wonderful milk cow with a lovely calf of her own.
But for now, I better head up to the barn, feed my Dexters some hay, and put a training halter on little Sweetie. If I want the blessing of a faithful milk cow, I have a newly weaned heifer to train and a budding relationship to build . . .
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