Stuck in the mud!!!

    Once again the farm provides me with an important life lesson. Springtime is also mud time on our farm. We HAVE mud!! Not a little mud, not JUST mud, but the kind of mud that sucks your boots in and doesn't let them go. The kind that tractors just fall in and don't come out of on their own. The kind that swallows elephants whole. That kind of mud. 

     As I was riding around in the ranger this morning with my grandson, I was thinking about mud and getting stuck, or more like how not to get stuck. As we came to a spot that looked kind of extra gooey I debated throwing caution to the wind and just plowing headlong into the bottomless mud hole. But suddenly I pictured myself wallowing through knee deep mud with no boots on because they got sucked off a few steps back, carrying a screaming two year old because he wants to drive, and trying to figure out a way to get that ranger out before someone else noticed my stupidity. I stopped and backed up and found a new way around. In the words of my grandson.."whew..that was a close one."

    I realized that so often in life that's what we do, we see the mud but we go ahead anyway, and then when we get stuck in the mud we are surprised, or mad. We could back up and go around, but we take our chances and go forward. Sometimes we make it through it no problem, sometimes we get scared part way through and slow down or stop and then we are stuck. Sometimes we are just stuck right from the start. The mud's too deep, and there is no way we will make it through. 

      Now what do we do? Well you can try to get out on your own, give it a little more gas, throw it in reverse, rock it out. Sometimes when you're trying to get out if you're not careful, you'll just be spinning your wheels, throwing mud everywhere, burying yourself deeper.  Sometimes if you look around you have what you need to get yourself out, and sometimes you need to call on someone else for help. The trick is calling for help before you bury yourself so deep that it seems practically impossible to get out. 

     Now don't get me wrong sometimes life puts mud in our path and there's no way around it. We have to go through it, get a little bit muddy, and maybe even work our guts out to make it through.  When you get in the mud bogs of life, you can't slow down and drag your feet or stop. That will guarantee the mud will suck you down. What if your boots fall off, or something else isn't quite the way it should be, should you stop? Only if you want to sink. What if it's so deep and gooey and you can't get out? That's when you call for help from your family and friends. 

      Another important part of making it through this mud bog  we call life, is preperation . If you get stuck and run out of gas, you will be sunk for sure. If you need help and you don't have any chains or a tow strap to use, you are in big trouble. Without the preperation life is harder than it needs to be. 

We need to prepare, to think before we dive right in, and if we need to, back up and go around, and last but not least remember it's just mud. It washes off. 

     We can make it through the mud, and if it takes us a while to wallow through the  bog, remember the mud only lasts for a while. Soon it will dry out and we will be on our way. 

       So my piggy friends spread your piggy wings and soar! With enough thrust even a pig can fly!!!