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Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

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Make Hay While the Sun Shines 1-tractor and hay cutter in fieldA farmer has to make hay while the sun shines.

His work depends on the weather.

  • If rain delays cutting the hay, it may be tough and have little food value.
  • Rainfall after hay is cut, but before it’s raked and baled, requires extra work to remove the moisture.
  • If the rain lasts too long, an entire crop could be lost.
  • Without hay for their livestock, farmers have to buy feed or sell their animals.

Make Hay While the Sun Shines-hay balesHow does make hay while the sun shines apply to non-farmers?

We can spend days or years planning what we want to do. However, we have only one certain way to achieve our goals: If the circumstances are right, act now.

Several clichés explain this particular farming expression:

  • Make the most of your opportunities.
  • We have no guarantee of tomorrow.
  • There’s no time like the present.

Let’s act while we have the opportunity.

Let’s make hay while the sun shines! If we wait, we may lose our chance forever.

As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work (John 9:4 NIV).

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Hold Your Horses

Hold Your Horses

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Hold Your HorsesAs small children, my sister and I did not enjoy shopping. Instead, we wanted to play. So, when we had to shop with Mom or Dad, we walked fast.

Like horses ready for a race, we had one goal. We wanted to return home, the quicker the better. Our plan had one problem. When we walked fast, our parents usually yelled, “Hold your horses!” They were telling us to stop. It wasn’t time to go. We needed to buy groceries or clothes.

Similar to horses obeying their riders, we obeyed our parents. We walked slower. We tried to bridle (a nice horsy word) our energy. We didn’t enjoy it. It interfered with our plans. Yet it taught us important lessons.

Listening to our parents helped us avoid danger. Later we learned to identify those dangers for ourselves.  Just like young horses, we needed guidance. We needed patience. We needed to learn to use our energy for the benefit of ourselves and others.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2 NIV).

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Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

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Don't Count Your Chickens Before They HatchPeople who raise chickens understand exactly what this means. They know you don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

Too many disasters can occur to those fragile eggs.

  • Animals may eat them.
  • Children may use them to play ball.
  • Someone may accidentally sit or step on them.

Likewise, we have no guarantee our plans will work.

Not with:

  • Family
  • Work
  • Recreation
  • School
  • The next hour

We can:

  • Plan
  • Organize
  • Prepare for possible problems.

In spite of that, our plans may fail.

So, do we give up? Do we stop trying? Definitely not!

We continue to plan, organize, and prepare for problems. With hard work, our plans often succeed.

But we also remain flexible.

We face the fact that we can’t control everything. We remember that sometimes our best-laid plans fail.

Above all, we remember that when we can’t count on anyone or anything else, we can always count on God. God never fails.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).

Thanks to Emily Akin for suggesting this expression.

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Something’s Fishy

Something’s Fishy

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Something's Fishy--fishNo one likes to smell fish left in a hot car, on the beach, or in a trash can. They stink! Only people who cannot smell escape the fishy aroma.

Getting rid of that odor is almost impossible. We rub. We spray. We open doors and windows. We do everything we know to do, but the smell remains.

In much the same way, we sometimes face situations that don’t seem right. We may not know why, but the negative feeling won’t go away.

  • A friend asks us to join an activity that makes us feel uneasy.
  • Someone offers an opportunity that sounds too good to be true.
  • We sense danger but can’t see why.

Those fishy situations disturb us for a reason. By trusting our instincts, we may avoid many future problems.

Flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness (1 Timothy 6:11 NIV).