Cradle Scythe

The museum’s sign labeling this unusual looking item was necessary but didn’t explain how a person managed to use this remarkable tool. It was simply four scythes, connected to one handle, making one great big instrument to cut tall grass or any field of weeds or shrubby undergrowth that needed to be removed or gathered. Normally a person would swing one scythe from side to side in big sweeping motions to rid a field of weeds or to cut hay for farm animals, or any other job that required cutting a lot of something quickly. In this case using four scythes all at once looks exhausting. Think what a tremendous amount of strength it would require swinging it at all, let alone swing it wide and often. I can only envision it successfully used by a tall brawny, man of tremendous strength. I wonder how much it was ever used, and how the person using it would feel afterwards. It might speed a job up, but at what cost to the doer of the task. It looks like the user of this instrument would need to be mighty careful not to hurt himself.

It also looks like the user would be wise to pray before swinging this around. Whenever we are faced with a possibly dangerous task or one that requires all the strength we can muster or more, we’d all be wise to pray. God can show us if we should find another way. If that’s not possible, we can ask for Him to endow us with His strength to proceed or provide us with whatever form of help we need. One thing seems certain. After using this instrument, the user would be a lot stronger than when he began, and a lot more tired. Thank heavens, whenever we face what seems impossible we can ask God to step in and provide the possible.