The View from the Tractor Seat

There have always been different classes of people, always. We divide them as the rich or wealthy, the average or middle class, and the poor. Often, these groups are referred to as the haves and the have-nots. It’s just the way it is and has been since the beginning of time. Throughout the Bible we see many references to those who are poor and those who are not. Many of us have always thought of those who were wealthy as being above the rest of us and or they “looked down their noses” at us wee minions in the population. It’s all about perception.

For example, if you are sitting on a tractor seat, you are mostly looking down. When I plowed tobacco, I literally kept my eyes focused down, right beneath my feet, to make sure I was getting the weeds out and not covering up the tobacco, same when putting out fertilizer. I was focused down. Ha, it was a one row tractor. If I was plowing beans, then I became a rubberneck. I had to look back and down and then forward. Different tractor and different implement. I had to keep the tractor straight so the rows were straight and I couldn’t throw dirt over the beans but I had to get the weeds covered. When I was running the sprayer, I was constantly looking back and down to make sure all the nozzles were working and that the spray mix was going where it was needed. Being in the combine was the same. You had to look down to keep your header in the correct position.

As I look back on those very early years, several things come to mind. Looking down kept me out of trouble, taught me what a hard day’s work was all about, and gave me an appreciation for where everything came from. I learned to spot problems before they got too big. I learned to be prepared for what could happen and usually did, I learned that looking down can give you a sore neck and a sore back. But, it also taught me patience and perseverance. If I kept at it, I would eventually get from one side of the field to the next and then get to move on to the next field.

I also learned that being up in the tractor seat enabled me to see more from a higher perspective. I could see if there was an unusually wet spot that needed to be avoided. You better not get stuck. No cell phones meant you had to sit and wait for help to arrive if you did get stuck. I could see if there was a higher concentration of weeds in an area, and I could easily see the end of the row. Being up high, I got to pick mulberries for a snack at the end of a field. You couldn’t reach them from the ground. Being up high and looking down had its advantages but at the time I thought I was the lowly of the lowliest. I was the farmer’s daughter. I was not going to parties with my friends, I was not taking trips to the beach for the weekend. My view from high up put me squarely at the bottom of the “poor” class category. To this day farmers are viewed with less than middle class courtesy. Why farm if you can do something else? Or, they can’t do anything else so they farm. Little do they know, my tractor seat was practically a throne. I got to see ALL of God’s handiwork. I knew what to do with dirt, and I knew what to do when we needed rain…pray. I never thought much about it at the time but sitting in the tractor seat gave me a lot of time to think and talk to the Maker.

One statistic to think upon for a second. Less than two percent (1.3%) of the population is feeding the other ninety-eight percent (98.7%). Mind blowing isn’t it. Now here is what’s really mind blowing. GOD SEES IT ALL! Yes, God sees it all. No matter your position in life; rich or poor, hard-working or lazy, slow and steady or fast and furious, God sees it ALL. His perspective is perfect, looking down at us, looking out for us. Our perspective should always be that of one looking up. If we are looking UP, then we don’t have to worry about the haves and the have-nots. We look up to our one and only hope. We look up in awe and admiration. We look up in thanksgiving and gratefulness. We look up to our Father who is in Heaven.

Job 28:24 For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens