I am planting wheat.

The field I am on is hilly, and I can’t always see the all the way to the end of the pass I’m on.

The tractor I am driving is old, and doesn’t have GPS on it.

Each time I turn around at the end of the pass I am dismayed at how crooked it is.

I look it over.  I make a plan to try to make it straighter this time. 

But it never works.  Each pass is as crooked as the last one.

I finally finish the field.

*****

The next field I move to was last worked with a tractor that had GPS.

I see the faint marks of each pass that the last rain didn’t quite wash out.

Each pass is arrow straight to the north.

I pick out a small furrow to follow and make my first pass.

When I get to the end, I see it isn’t too crooked.

But, as I turn around, I realize there is a new mark to follow.

I line up, set my gaze down the long straight row, and make the next pass.

*****

And then the truth tumbles into the cab with me.

The first field was like I tried to live my life for so many years.

Each day, I tried.

I tried so hard.

I tried to line up, but so often I couldn’t even see the end of the field, and my path got lost somewhere in it all.

And it was always crooked, and a disappointment.

And the second field?

Well, I figure that’s what happens when I let God help me.

And every morning is a new start; I forget the mistakes of yesterday, and I set my eyes down the straight and perfect mark set before me.