Forgiveness

OR
You just can't do everything
AND
You can't have it all either.

I am drawn to things that are both taskmasters and forgiving. Like life on the farm.

These three chicks are forgiveness. I filled the incubator with eggs and prior to this batch had gotten good hatchings, but in my busy-ness I forgot to mark on my calendar to take the eggs out of the turner and consequently forgot until the night before they were supposed to hatch. Instead of hatching 20+ chicks, I only got these three. But that I got any at all, that is forgiveness.

On high production dairy farms, I hear they milk three times a day, every 8 hours, to maximize production. But my cow forgives me if I am a few minutes before or past her accustomed every 12 hour milking.

Most things I cook are very forgiving. I imagine that souffle's are not forgiving and thus have never even attempted one but most things let you get by with stuff. Don't have one ingredient? Another one will do. The rennett needs to coagulate the milk for 15 minutes? A half hour won't ruin the resulting cheese. The bread raises a little short or a little long? Still delicious!

All these things are demanding too. Most of the chicks died. The cow's milk production could easily be affected if I get too lax. Food can be ruined, made inedible (I almost gag at the memory of some of my father's wife's cooking and wonder if he died because he got tired of trying to eat that stuff).

The garden will produce even under weeds -- although there won't be as much and it won't be as pretty and less will be harvested.

Forgiveness doesn't mean it is ok. Forgiveness is only that life goes on unabated. Too many people abate their lives, decrease themselves, live in fear of forgiveness. Just as many are not demanding enough taskmasters to themselves.

Nature is our guide both to being taskmaster and to being forgiven. I think she's got the balance about right.