As you all probably know, my family lives on a small acreage northeast of town. We have only been out here a handful of years, but I sometimes have to remind myself we ever lived in town. My kids have no fear with the cattle or hogs we raise, and my husband reminds me frequently he was driving tractor at a much earlier age than AJ is now. I guess the farming life fits my family well.
Evan, who is almost eight, has been accused by the neighbor of raising a strong, healthy, bottle calf like no other. He must pour some type of extra loving care into each one because oftentimes they look no different than the calves who stay with their mommas all summer. I’m told this is a little unusual. It is not uncommon, after finishing their bottle, for Evan to run in circles with the calf chasing him, tail in the air. Then they switch directions and eventually Evan trips and the calf nudges him to keep going. It’s really quite a site. As this mom watches, it’s cute and terrifying all at the same time.
Out on the farm you think of a rooster crow for an alarm clock. We don’t have chickens or a rooster, so usually it is the beep of an alarm clock to get us to rise. Except this summer. Evan’s calf, Heidi, started waking up earlier and earlier crying for her bottle. Though faint at first, eventually she would walk out to the little outdoor pen where she spent her sunny afternoons. Shortly after she started bawling, the other bottle calf would make her presence known. There really was no sleeping in at our house this summer, and I’ll admit, it was a little like having a newborn around again!
When the bottle was mixed and brought to the pen, you needed to look out! At first sight of the bottle, there was a dead sprint for the nipple and I don’t think the animal would breathe until the milk was completely gone. (No, she was not starving; I asked the big farmer.) Turns out she prefers the sweetness of the white liquid more than the perfectly prepared feed and hay that was provided in the trough throughout the entire day.
This reminded me of the scripture from Hebrews 5, “11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
While it is true the calf needed the bottle morning and night, eventually she needed to start eating more of the grain provided for her – the solid food. The same is true of us. When we were young, much of our nutrition came from the milk we drank, but little by little, solid table food was offered to our palate. God’s Word instructs us to do the same with our spiritual life. We were fashioned by the Creator of this universe to be lifelong learners and to share our knowledge and love, as teachers, with others. It is important as we travel this journey, no matter what age, to continually dig into the depths of God’s Word and “chew” on it as we faithfully serve our Lord and Master.
What did you have for your spiritual breakfast this morning? I pray, whatever it was, it left you hungering for more.
Becky Ossefoort