A strange thing this manure pile
It grows on me
in more ways than one
Today as I laboured
on stall number two
right down to the bottom
wheel barrow filled thirty times
pushed thirty times to the gathering place
where it will sit and age and become useful
through the Winter months
the Spring season
into the middle of Autumn
when all the fields are grazed
and dirty tractor tracks
won't spoil the fields
the goats
already
back
on sweet
gathered
hay
then
the manure
will be spread
and within the first weeks of
'Spring snow' disappearing
the new grass will be rich
and lush
growing high
so that the droughts won't harm it
the blazing sun won't scorch the roots
the heat won't burn it
and the goats and horses
wandering all through these now 'snow baren' months
will enjoy like gourmands
eating as they play and leap with joy
gathering strength and health
for Winter's long months ahead
and so the cycle goes on
I will find myself
again
in the manure pile
cleaning stalls
thirty wheelbarrow loads one day
fifty the next
weeks of this
digging
I am not the prodigal
now
though I may have been
once
caught in my rebellion
before I knew the truth
and was set free
still I dig manure
and do it gladly
I am constantly reminded
that it is out of the mire
that He pulled me
and set my feet upon
a Rock
I am free to walk away
In my heart I am free
but I buffet my body to continue
in this labour
to remember
from where He has brought me
And at night as I walk home through the starry night
I rejoice that just as the uncountable stars that He knows by name
I am one of the 'named' in His book of Life
names as many as the grains on the seashore
uncountable
as the stars above
uncountable
I am one
of many
on the cross
Jesus said
It is finished
His labour of love complete
we are His rich harvest
we stand forgiven
and loved
all this
I learn
from
a walk home
on a starry night
and a manure pile
my favourite things
