Hot and tired, Seth drug himself in from the wheatfield and said, “I work and sweat all day trying to clear the stones from this rocky soil and still have very little healthy wheat. This soil is not good for anything!”
Zebina had heard Seth complain about the soil before, but he sounded more frustrated and depressed than ever. “Would it be better to grow a different crop, Seth?”
“Not really. Nothing can grow in rocks!” He grumbled some more as he washed his face and cast his dirty clothes over in the corner. Zebina kept stirring the pot of stew she had made, all the while trying to think of a solution to his problem.
Seth got up from the place he had been resting. “I heard two new men in town talk about a peice of land south of us, close to Mt. Tabor. They said it belonged to an older man who could no longer manage it. He planned to move to another town to stay with his daughter, so he wants to sell his land. I’m thinking about making a trip down there to have a look at it.”
Zebina turned in shock. “But Seth, that means we would have to move.” What was he suggesting? Pick up? Move all their earthly goods? Leave their friends and family? No. Please no.
Seth saw the tears filling her eyes, threatening to spill over any moment. “Now Zebina, I’m just going to look. That doesn’t mean we’re about to move.” Zebina went back to the stew, stirring it so vigorously, it was about to splash over the sides and into the fire.
Joash came in to clean up so the discussion stopped. As they ate their meal, Joash chattered away about his work in the field and what he did the day before with a friend, what he was going to do the next day with another friend and how he missed Jesus. “Just one more week and then he’ll be home,” he reported. He had no sense of the tension in the room between his parents.
Seth had made up his mind to take the trip south to check out the land. That night, he gave instructions to Joash about the jobs he wanted him to do the next day while he was gone. Zebina rose quickly the next morning to pack some fruits and vegetables, figs and bread for Seth’s trip. He left just as the sun started to peek over their farm. Zebina watched him going past the field as she stood in the doorway. She was mesmerized by the sunrise. Did this sunrise project a new day coming in her life?
Zebina could think of nothing but the shock of picking up everything they owned and leaving their families behind to go to an unfamiliar place just because of a few rocks. She wandered out to the field covered with wheat stalks. She had to admit they stood rather weakly, their heads bent in the breeze. Instinctively, she kicked a few stones as though that would chase away the culprits, but the more she examined the ground in between the sheaves, the more the rocks seemed to poke their heads out at her.
She heaved a frustrated sigh as she turned to their familiar house, the place where she felt comfortable, and the garden she tended. A tear slipped down her cheek at the thought of having to leave her home, her mother, her town, her friends—her best friend, Mary.
Joash came out, ready for the day. As she watched him walking around the field, he waved at her and she waved back. She thought, oh dear Joash, how would you bare the news that you might have to leave your best friend, Jesus? Quickly, Zebina wiped what was about to be another tear in the corner of her eye.
~ Joyce ~