The Farm

A successful and very wealthy farmer had twin sons, Michael and Steven, and they all lived together on the most incredible farm. Their farmhouse stood up on a hill in the centre of the farm, with a big wraparound porch that allowed one to look out over the land for as far as the eye could see. To the west the farm was bordered by a ridge of mountains and one could climb the ridge and look out over the thousands of acres of farmland. Looking down from the ridge, the crop squares below alternated in colour – dark and light greens, soft orange and pale brown – like a giant homemade quilt, broken only by the solitary farmhouse standing like a sentinel in the middle of the lands. Far in the distance one could see the grasslands dotted with brown and white cows, majestic horses and chickens pecking in the sand. The farm was everything one could ever imagine.

The farmer absolutely loved the farm and farming. Every day he would wake up before sunrise and head out for the day. When his two sons were old enough he would take them out with him. Even though both boys hated getting up while it was still cold, Michael loved being out on the farm with his dad, but Stephen could not muster up the strength to wake up. Every day the farmer would try get Stephen out of bed, but he would just roll over and tell him to go away.

Without much more the farmer could do, him and Michael would set off before sunrise and climb to the top of the ridge and drink coffee from a flask as the sun rose. Then they would go down into the fields and get to work ploughing or harvesting or irrigating, depending on the season. They would fix fences and build new barns. They would inspect the health of the cows, collect the eggs from the chicken pens and groom the horses. They would drive in the farm vehicle listening to music, laughing and joking, talking and sharing. Sometimes they would head over to the neighbours where, over a hearty farm lunch, they would talk about all kinds of things from farming to sport to weather and news around town. In the evenings they would climb the ridge again and just sit quietly and watch the sun dip below the other side, saying nothing but hearing everything. Michael and the farmer loved their days together.

At night they would come home and sit around the table for dinner, the dinner they had worked hard for all day. While they had been out on the farm, Stephen would only get up late in the day and then lie on the couch watching TV. Despite Stephen’s laziness and lack of passion, the farmer would sit at the table and invite both boys to come and sit with him for dinner. There they would talk about their respective days. He would ask Stephen what he did and how he was and what he was planning to do tomorrow. “I don’t know, same as today, I guess.” When dinner was done they would all play a board game or play some music on the piano, and when it was time for bed, he would tuck them both in, say goodnight and tell them both he loved them more than anything else in the whole world.

I believe this story illustrates God’s love for us. It has been given and there is nothing more that we can do to gain any more love, or lose it, because we have it all already. Whether we spend our lives lying on the couch or being out there living it, He does not love one of His children more or less for that – His love is not dependent on our actions. He still allows us to live in His house and share in His Kingdom. Rather it is that we are missing out on the joy of living an exciting beautiful life on earth with our Dad.
So the moral of the story is that we need not be killing ourselves trying to work for our Father’s love – we have it already through the sacrifice Jesus made for us. But if you do choose to spend your life lying on the couch – by not enjoying the world He has blessed us with, knowing Him and our brothers and sisters and being involved in ministry – know that you are missing out on the life on earth that He wants us to have.

Let’s go out there and live life with our Dad, not because we have to, but because we want to.