Choices.....Here's to all the ag guys out there that have walked out of a season of cold, grey, sick, unrelenting winter....and wake to another morning of choices.
As I looked at the sunset and the smartphone time that said 9PM was coming soon, I had but a few quick chores before supper (mine..my family had to eat or suffer the never ending "wait till dad gets home" trauma). The chores were pretty straightforward: make and feed a bottle to a sick calf who was starving and suffering, and put another calf out of his misery because he wasn't going to win the battle. As my mind calculated the steps in the tasks, I asked myself, "Which one do I do first?" I knew it mattered little because the chances were very slim that one might be left undone, but philosophically : which comes first?.....the comfort of food to something living....or the humane act to a suffering creature.

The gravity in this question lies not in the answer, but in the reality that my brothers and sisters in the ag industry have had to make these kind of choices...and press forward each day. Sometimes it would help if there were a way to answer these questions and smooth the tiny crack that gets created in your heart, when you know you did your best, but you know it wasn't even close to enough. When you know it's not your fault, but you know things could have been different. When you're tough enough to handle it, but you're not sure if you can handle much more of it. 

The choice is made....The bottle....then the bullet. The calf gets some food and gains the hope of another day...and warmer weather...and I move on to finish task number two.

I arrive at the suffering calf to find my task already done. I'm too late. He's already gone....

Friends.....it's been a long season. You've been through a tough one....and spring is starting to break. You've got many choices ahead, but when it comes to the toughest ones...

Choose the living before the dead! You may have to walk through the hard and the impossible, but the life around you will continue to grow, and the death only decays. There is a time for both, but choose the living stuff first.