Living and Dying

A lot of things have been flowing in my brain lately.  I don't know what it is about fall, but it always makes me weird, all contemplative and deep, totally not like myself.  And maybe it's the fact that the leaves are falling, or maybe the Halloween crap everywhere but I think about death a lot this time of year.

No worries, I'm not suicidal.

And last weekend I gave a quick thanks to God as I killed chickens and processed them for eating.  I also thanked the chicken.  Weird I know, but hey, I raised them from chicks and cared for them and then selected which ones I would keep and which ones would be food for us.  I felt a little bad about it, but not bad enough to not do it.  I call it "The beautiful circle of life".  They die so we can live.  No it's true, anytime you eat meat that animal has died so you can live.  And I'm Ok with that.  That's the way it's supposed to be.  But it doesn't hurt to say thank you.

And then there are the times when I see death and it wasn't on purpose.  That's why I think people who farm have a different outlook on life.  They see death a lot.  Animals die, they just do.  Ones you love and ones you don't.  This year we have lost 3 cats.  Due to some out building changes the predators have grown bolder.  I watched as a batch of chicks died one by one until none were left.

Christians should understand this.  May God teach us to number our days so we can remember what really counts in this world and what doesn't.  Death leads to life, the Scripture teaches us this. In living we die, but in dying we live, whoever loses his life shall gain it and all that jazz that we always forget about.