“My hands are full” I find myself saying almost daily. Sometimes it is because they are literally full; balancing a baby on one hip and a cast iron pan full of steaming hot dinner in the other hand. Other times I might reply “my hands are full” to someone asking how I am doing or if I am interested in taking on a new task. It seems our hands are fullest in the summertime. Whether we realize it or not when the sun shines we all have this internal pull to work harder, play harder, busying ourselves and then wonder why the days are flying by. I sometimes refer to it as “being a squirrel.” Maybe this busy hum of summer days goes deeper back to our ancestral drive to prepare for winter. To finish just one more project, to preserve just one more harvest, chop firewood, stock up and to get ready to tuck ourselves in and hibernate when the sunny weather eventually yields to snowstorms and freezing temperatures.
My husband likes to tease me when I go down to “check “on our garden only to return with my arms loaded down with perfectly ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, tomatillos, herbs and anything else that caught my eye in the moment. I laugh and roll my eyes as I clumsily drop a tomato on the ground. As I stop to retrieve the runaway I ponder our provision and thank God for the abundant blessing of food that our farm gives us each and every day.
I am so thankful for this life. Yes, it is long and grueling hours especially in the summertime. Do I long to be “normal” sometimes and go RV’ing across America like the rest of my High School friends? Absolutely! I joke about suburban daydreaming with my other farm friends. Having a house with a tiny yard and no chicken poop sometimes seems like a magical walk in the park. But then I remember this is where I am called to be. Growing, learning and sharing with all of you. Our little farm is just a little piece of this giant world puzzle. Each day that I am a faithful worker bee and you are faithful where you have been called to be is another day of blessing.
So if you have found yourself reading this today and feeling like your hands are full. Remember that each of us are carrying our own harvest. It is what we do with what is in our hands, what we pick up, what we put down and what we share that really counts.