It is mid-summer. Crops are being harvested. This year, the field next to our house has planted wheat. I have watched with wonder as the wheat has grown and turned a beautiful golden brown, like sand on the beach.

From my vantage point in my beloved sunroom, I can see the wheat field. And it has been harvested. The best thing about wheat harvest, aside from having wheat, is when the farmers bale the wheat stalks. Wheat stalks are also known as straw. It is used for animal bedding and mulch, among other things.

I love the pristine look of the freshly cut field, with freshly wrapped bales, scattered randomly all over the field. Baled straw is the perfect mix of precision and randomness. I love driving along and seeing these beautiful golden bales in all the fields.

This year, I get to see the straw bales from my seat in the sunroom. Today I watched the sun rise, and shine on them while I enjoyed my morning coffee.  Such a wonderful way to start a day.

There is Value in the Waste

As I gazed in awe upon the golden bales, it occurred to me that the wheat stalks are waste. Nobody plants a crop of wheat stalks. The stalks are the waste – what is left over after the grain has been harvested. And yet there is a use for the waste. It has value.

How wonderful that waste has value!

How much of what appears to be waste in my life has had value? Everything doesn’t go the way we would like. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable.

I like to say that experience is what I get when I don’t get what I want.  I have lots of experience. I have been intentional about trying to learn something from things that have not gone as planned so I can hopefully avoid having that problem again.

When I was a little kid, I wondered what would happen if I touched the pie pan when it came out of the oven. My mother told me not to touch it, and left the room. Why couldn’t I touch it? I thought I would touch it and find out.  And I burned my finger. That did not go how I planned. However, I learned something. Not to touch things that have just come out of the oven.

I have been afraid of many things in my life and spent time worrying about things I’m afraid of. And then the thing I worry about and am afraid of has happened.  I was always afraid that Eric would die. And then he died.

I have learned that “what you focus on expands”. So, it is not smart for me to worry about and focus on things I do not want. I should focus on things I do want.

As I look back on my life, I see that I have had messed up thinking at times. Plenty of things have happened that I did not want. However, experience is what I get when I don’t get what I want. I do have lots of experience. While dealing with things I do not want seems like a waste of time, there is value in that process. Because I can learn how to think about and do things a different way, and get different results.

The waste, just like bales of wheat stalks, has value.