Sometimes one has to wait

Growing up Mom and Dad had chickens, usually a bunch of chickens. Dad would order in a couple hundred baby chickens, and they would come in the mail. Some were destined to become laying hens and some for us to eat later on. They were OK, but my favorite chickens were always the banty chickens. They were about half the size of a normal chicken and their eggs were maybe half or even less the size of a normal egg. Every now and then, the hen banty would begin laying eggs with plans to sit on them until the eggs hatched. So she would sit on the eggs until they hatched. Talk about little. Normally eight to 10 baby chickens. She would take them everywhere she went. She raised them.

One could have gathered her eggs and eaten them. As a result there would have been no baby banty chickens. Or one could have eaten the old hen. No baby chickens. Or one could have eaten the old rooster before the hen banty and the rooster got friendly. A lot of ways of stopping the natural process. But to get the eight to 10 baby banties one had to delay gratification for long term rewards. In other words, the immediate needs versus the long-term needs.

Kind of like one is dying of thirst and he walks up on a pump out in the middle of nowhere. He pumps and pumps, but no water. Not a drop. But he reads some instructions on a wooden sign. The instructions says to dump a whole gallon of water down the well and then pump. He spies an A&W gallon jug full of water. Now does he drink the water in the jug or dump it down the well as instructed? So in faith, he dumps the water down the well priming the pump and getting all the water he needs and wants. So he fills the jug for the next thirsty traveler.

Kind of like deciding to plant oaks or maple trees. An old man can plant some maple trees and probably enjoy their shade. But if the old man plants the oaks, his grandkids will enjoy the shade. It really depends on ones point of view or where you place your values. Back when I was in college in Oklahoma, we were driving a 1976 Dodge Dart with a slant six and a factory four speed on the floor. Got awesome mileage. But my pickup was old like a 1956 Ford that was worn out. I needed some tools. Buy cheap or quality? We bought quality so they never wear out.

But isn't this true of everything? Back a bunch of years in Nebraska I was helping a friend do some cattle work, so I rode one of his neighbors horses, a Two-Eyed Jack gelding. Pretty darn nice horse. By the time the day was over, I was wishing I owned the gelding. My friend is a year older than me. He got bucked off a couple weeks ago and tore up his good hip, so he's stoved up right now. Good genetics will usually throw good horses but it takes time. Mares have to be bred and put out to pasture in anticipation of their colt the next spring.

So many of us live our lives with no regard for our health, so one day we might end up in the doctor's office, and he says our blood is polluted with fat. He says some letters like HDL and LDL and cholesterol, and he says we have to change our diet. He says eat less steak and hamburger and bacon and eat more lettuce and greens and rabbit food. But what if way back when, we spent as much time at the salad bar as cutting up our steak and hamburger and pork buts and pork ribs? Maybe a healthier lifestyle.

We need to spend our time wisely because we have a limited amount. Time spent from the cradle to the grave that's worth investing is time spent in the Bible, in Church and in a good Christian environment.