T is for TRACTOR

I was full of good intentions. I was only thinking of others but maybe therein lay the problem. It was sometime in the afternoon, a dry, late summer day and we had been working sat silage since early morning. I knew the whole area well for it was only a short stroll from home, even though the land belonged to a good friend and relatively close neighbour and I was privileged to have a job for the whole of the long summer holidays from university. There were only three of us at work, myself, the boss and his foreman and we each had specific jobs. The foreman spent most of the day reversing a tractor and buck rake into the silo with loads of grass that I had deposited from the trailer which I brought regularly from the field. The boss drove the tractor that towed the forage harvester and a trailer which he filled and would then unhinge it to be collected by yours truly who would arrive with an empty trailer and leave it to be collected for filling by the boss. We were so automated that the only time anyone needed to disembark from their machine during the whole operation was when I had to attach or detach the hydraulic hose pipe that ran from the trailer to the tractor in order to make it tip up the grass. Once or twice in the past, I had completely forgotten to do this job and had been sprayed by a thick brown layer of oil as the hosepipe unattached itself! But over time, the whole process came naturally and was just part of a routine that you completed subconsciously each time. I suppose my main objective was to be as quick as I could in my journey from the field to silo and back again and to not have the boss waiting long to pick up another empty trailer. It was really all a matter of man and machine in harmony, knowing your tractor well and most of all, knowing how to get the maximum from it on each journey. It was a new version of a Massey Ferguson 135 with a nice square front splattered in red and black paint and although it was a strong workhorse, most of the time it was working at the maximum of its ability when pulling a large silage trailer load of grass up a steep hill and it never let me down.

As I said I was full of good intentions. I had just returned from the silo, emerged over the brow of the hill and ambled down the other side on to a flat piece of land, where the empty trailer had been deposited. As I waited for my next load to be left off, I moved out of the way, did a quick circle and came to rest half way down the slope. Soon the boss passed by, just beyond my empty trailer and unhitched my new load but as he did so, I noticed that the tail gate of his trailer was not properly closed. Quickly I jumped off my tractor and ran down the few yards to close it when I noticed him waving frantically at me and pointing over my shoulder. I just had time to turn round and see his lovely new Massey Ferguson 135 make contact with the side of the empty trailer that was directly in its line as it careered down the slope. As they say the more haste the less speed and I kept going over in my head if I had pulled on the hand brake but I just couldn't remember. The damage was considerable and I still can't recall whether or not I closed the tail gate on the other trailer, but I was truly sorry for my mistake. What I do remember was that the boss was very philosophical about the whole affair and my wage packet was still fully intact the next week, but I guess that's friends for you! Mind you, I had to drive around for the rest of the time on a tractor without a bonnet and it did pose some interesting questions for the neighbours.

Maybe that's a lesson for more than just me. Sometimes we do actually need to think about ourselves and not always about others and sometimes our good intentions mask problems that we just don't want to deal with. I don't mean to think of ourselves in a selfish sort of way but rather to examine ourselves before we start making plans to help others. To be honest I'm quite happy and capable of minding my own business so generally I don't expect anyone else to see the need to do that job for me. Jesus said 'Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?' I can find lots of problems with other people whom I know if I try hard enough, but I'm sure by the same token, they can see my faults as well and even if we can't see each other's shortcomings, I know God always sees them. Yet when I come to Him, sorry for my sinful nature, He is willing to forget all about these and not add them to my account and He never thinks any less of me, even when I let Him down. I guess that's what happens when your boss is also your friend.