It is crazy to me that this is my 200th consecutive blog post.
When I set out to write a blog, I wondered if I would have the discipline to keep up with it for a few months, or even a year. But here we are—almost four years and 200 posts later.
To be honest when I look back over the posts some are really insightful, others are unremarkable, and there are quite a few that land somewhere in between.
I have learned so much from the process of writing each week, and I’ve truly enjoyed doing it. But it’s not always easy. Sometimes, I sit down with Marjorie, and we’re planned out six weeks in advance because I have so many ideas I’m excited to talk about. Other times, I struggle to think of anything worth saying, and it’s truly a grind to come up with a post for the next day.
As much as I desire for these posts to add value to you, I know that what I get out of this process is beneficial to me.
The process of writing is not always fun or easy, but it’s good.
In honor of my 200th blog, I’d like to revisit the message I shared in the very first one. It’s as true today as it was then.
I love the principle contained in Proverbs 14:4: “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.”
This passage contrasts two different farms. The first one has no oxen to plow the fields or to turn the grinding wheel. The manger, or eating trough, is clean because the farmer doesn’t have any animals to feed, and the barn is pristine because he doesn’t have any manure to shovel (200 posts ago I called it poop, but let me just be real with you, we’re talking about crap). The farm is clean, but it’s also unproductive.
On the second farm, the farmer uses the power of an ox to plant and harvest “abundant crops,” but there’s a cost: he has to lug feed to the trough for his oxen and shovel the crap out of the barn. So here is the inherent question the writer asks: Are the farmer’s profits worth the labor expended to use the strength of the oxen? The implied answer is yes. The growth is worth it.
If you’re working to grow, I want to help you change your perspective of the junk that you’re dealing with and realize that it is a side-effect of a good thing. On a farm, the crap you are shoveling may be hard and frustrating work, but it is because animals are working on your farm to help you plant and yield a bigger harvest.
And in the same way that the crap on the farm becomes fertilizer down the road, the crap in one season becomes a catalyst for growth in another season.
The reminder for you and me? The biggest frustrations and problems we walk through in one season are the ones that help us grow as leaders, as spouses, and as friends in future seasons.
