Dr. Laura -
Recently, you finished a call with a mother of 3 who didn't feel motivated. You responded to her about farmers having to go out in the rain and that they didn't have the luxury to feel "motivated" to take care of their farms and children.
I laughed because I have 16 goats and 2 dogs. They are all my beloved pets more than "workers". When the weather is bad their only source of food is me.
It has rained and snowed here just about every day for months. It often just happens to start raining when I have to go out to feed. Last Thursday it started pelting rain at 4pm.
I prayed that the rain would stop, but it rained harder. Poor little faces stared out of the barn door, with hungry tummies looking expectantly at me. I knew I had to feed them.
I put my big boots on, went out and got my feed cart and filled it, covering it with a tarp to keep the rain out and hauling it down the hill. I then went back to the shed and filled the cart again with dry hay and straw to line the barn and to finish their dinners.
But I wasn't finished and neither was God and the rain. It has rained so much that the ground is saturated. We have had to dig trenches to divert water away from the barn wall. My trenches had collapsed so I shoveled heavy, wet shovel loads away from the barn, still in the pouring rain, with little goat and dog faces watching me intently and making me laugh. After 3 hours of feeding, dispensing food and shoveling smelly stuff, I was finished and so was the rain! The rain stopped the minute I tossed my last shovel full.
My poor husband arrived home during my process after he had an exhausting 12 hour day working at an Alzheimer's facility. I was just grateful that he had arrived home from his long commute and he now was home with me.
I am grateful that at 60 God has blessed me with a strong body in order to care for my little farm. He has given me so much love, that it is a small trade off to spend hours dealing with rain and snow to care for those I love.
My bottom line is that day after day of rain and hauling food to the animals in the rain, I am dripping all the time, the hay gets wet and sticks to my jacket. I don't look forward to going out to feed. But I am so in love with my husband and my life and my animals that well.......love is my motivation.
Kathleen
