"When I grow up I want to be a tractor"

When our children are small they sometimes say the funniest things and as parents we remember some of them but forget most. Our third child has always loved tractors: ever since he could say "brum" he has been doing so. He has been rinding in the cab with various farmer friends of ours since he could walk. When he was a very small boy indeed someone asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. His reply raised a smile from us all "When I grow up I want to be a tractor" he said. His favourite story for years was "Little red tractor".

Through the years he has worn out countless robust pedal tractors and a very well made go-cart and trailor which he used like a tractor. My father made him a beautiful wooden farm and fields which was played and played with for may years and is now safely bedded down in the attic. Britains farm toys have been received for birthdays and Christmas as well as pocket money saved for the right attachment or trailor. We decided long ago that we had a farmer in the family. That is not very surprising as farming is in both my family and slightly further back in Tim's family too.

The love of the land, animals and the outdoors is in his genes. Recently he has bought, or rather acquired, his first tractor. Not a pedal tractor this time but a real little red tractor. It is an elderly pensioner which he treats like a rolls royce and is often found in the garage tinkering with it, making improvements or mending something.

God has put in all of us a heart for something and gifts to go with it whether it is for the countryside and farming or something else. We all have something we enjoy doing which we are good at. We can do it for a long time without it leaving us feeling tired or drained. What is it that energises you? Do you use it for God's glory as well as your own pleasure?