There were two tractors. One was shiny and clean; and was housed in a little garage to keep it that way. Once in a while it came out to break up and haul away fallen branches or broken tree trunks…mostly, it was an amusement to the man who owned it…a toy; and owning it made him feel more like a man. When he played with it, or showed it to his friends, he felt like a bigger man.
The other tractor was beaten up and worn; its paint faded and it had an old piece of plywood for a roof (to shade the Man who owned it while he worked). It was too big for a garage and sat in the sun or rain when the Man wasn’t using it to build, to clear, and to define in more detail that land already made beautiful by the hand of God. The air in one tire ran low now and then…but that big machine worked when called upon to work. The Man was just a man…and he needed the tractor to accomplish work. Owning it didn’t make him feel anything but grateful for the tool…it didn’t make him feel more like a man (…but he really was more. A man who has nothing to prove to anyone, a man who doesn’t need anybody’s popularity vote, a man who is unafraid because he’s a man of honor and dignity is more of a man than many…My grand dad used to say: The man with the $100 bill may wave it around to show everybody what he has. But, the man with the roll of $100 dollar bills keeps it tucked safely in his pocket…).
Not only are some tractors for show…sometimes, we people are that way, too. We sit pretty in our special spot until it’s time to play for show. By this we accomplish very little in the way of really living life as it’s meant to be lived. For fear of scratching our societal paint, nothing of lasting worth is built in us; not built nor cleared nor defined in more detail. If we’re not careful, we can become people for show.
Make a choice to be who you were designed to be. Get your gears working and moving. It doesn’t take an audience. It doesn’t take popular vote. It doesn’t take a new paint job (or a new pair of sweat pants). It takes willingness to rise to the occasion of the work before you. It takes your fearless move forward to build something wonderful and strong inside yourself. If you don’t use what God has given you, it will waste away. Get busy with the work of building!
Sally Windham-Blackburn is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor in Blanco, TX. Please send questions and comments to sally_blackburn@yahoo.com
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