Life & Grace

A retired farmer told me a great story the other day. I thought it was a lot more beautiful than he intended it to be.

One spring he was plowing his land.

I imagined a heavy steel plow violently ripping up the sod, exposing dark earth to the blazing sun. This was business and the ground had to be plowed to prepare for planting. His livelihood depended on getting the most out of every inch of ground. This is not for the feint of heart or the sentimental fool.

Suddenly a Killdeer ran out in front of him shrieking loudly and acting like it was wounded. He knew it was protecting a nest, trying to distract the threat away from its young.

Too bad for the bird. It was the wrong place to put a nest. It should have been more careful. Life is a harsh reality. There isn't room for much grace.

He slowed down and looked carefully ahead until he spotted the nest on the ground. Then he carefully maneuvered his tractor around the nest leaving everything intact.

What? Are you mad? What happened to survival of the fittest? You made a mess out of your field. Now you have a gap in your row. Time is money and you just wasted it and you won't get paid back for it.

Sometime later he was sitting at his kitchen window when a Killdeer came out of the field chirping loudly and trailing several young behind. They marched across the lawn so he could get a good look at them then headed back in the direction they came from. He likes to think it was the same bird he encountered earlier who brought the young by so he could see what he spared and to say thank you.

I think he is right.