Ego Trips for All

I love that song by the Newsboys called "Fad of the Land". There is a line in that song that says "I'm packing for an ego trip".  Now I came to a realization this week that made me think about this song, well mostly, about that line in the song; and I'm not talking about keeping up with the Jones' (you should listen to this song if you don't know it). Well let me start at the beginning and show you what I am talking about. 

Last Week I watched Tyler and two other men mill some pine and oak from our land. They had a sawmill here that was attached to a trailer. The mill did most of the work, or at least that is what it seemed. The only thing that the guys had to do was run the blade and move the cut lumber off of the mill and onto a pile. Now Tyler and these other gentlemen would take turns pulling the cut 1X's and 2X's off of the mill and carrying it over to the pile. These boards ranged from 10 -14 feet long and were between 4 and 11 inches wide. Not that big in comparison to beams and such. While building the house we would use boards this size in trim work and framing and such. Sometimes these men would take two boards at once and it didn't seem to be that difficult to them. (Are you starting to see where my ego trip came?).  Overall, the men did a great work and I am very thankful for them and the lumber that came out of their day of work. 

They stacked the wood in two places and one of them, unfortunately, is in the way of some stumps that I want Tyler to remove with the excavator, and thus needs to be moved. Thankfully this is the smaller pile and only contains about a third of the wood. Monday during my 30 minutes of all boys napping I decided to go outside and move some of the wood to help Tyler and lighten his load at home.  Let me just say I never realized how much heavier wet lumber is to kiln dried seasoned wood that you buy in the store. I had a hard time to move even the smallest board out there. When all is said and done I only moved about 3 1X6 12 footers. I could not have lifted anything larger. These are some heavy boards! I have no idea how those guys lifted all of these boards for the entire day of milling.  Tyler is not any larger than I am; as you probably know we are about the same height and normally weigh about the same. (although lately I average a higher weight than him, shhh! don't tell anyone).  But man let me tell you he is a lot stronger than I am, and I am no dainty woman. I can lift with the best of them ( at least I used to be able to). I spend the whole day lifting kids and I can paddle a canoe all day, and hey, I can leg press 160 lbs; but I cannot stack that lumber in my backyard.  Thus I have gained a new respect for the physical strength that God seems to have bestowed on men rather than women.  

Don't get all girl power on me ladies! I respect the strength that men have, but I know that they would practically die if they had to go through the pain of childbirth. Thus, the equal balance that God has created: Men are physically strong to lift heavy objects (their wives when they are in labor) and women are physically strong to handle the stress before, during, and after childbirth.  Hopefully my blog has not set you up for an ego trip; please do not go hurting yourself by trying to prove that you can lift more than some guy. It isn't worth it! After all he cannot prove that he is as strong as you by having a baby, so stop pushing your unfair advantage on the guy!