COWS

I have been traveling again -
same road, more boredom, more cows.
Mostly black cows.

My friend Nancy made me laugh.
Apparently among the Navajo people of Arizona
a standard goodbye involves black cows.

 I love it!

This trip provided more food for thought.
I promise it isn't as long as my last cow diatribe -
 I have to finish washing out ink.

We were just driving along in the zoned out mode with scenery passing - one field after another - a herd here, a herd there, every now and again strays or singles not in a herd ...
pretty much same, same - yawwwnnn.

Then there was this one Holstein cow. JUST ONE.

The thing that made this cow stand out was that she was in the middle of a herd of Black Angus. Not only did her bony hips jut taller than the surrounding cattle but she was mostly white. You've heard of standing out in a crowd? she stood out in the herd.  My husband (driving) even woke up enough to notice it at the same time. She was very different.

It got me thinking.

Holsteins are mostly known as dairy cattle for their super ability to produce an abundance of milk, yet because of their great size may also be used for beef.

Angus are known for beef production - especially known as tasty beef, yet they also produce milk, although less of it generally for shorter periods of time.

Sometimes (and we may be so zoned out we don't notice) there is an abundance of one thing, all around us, all the same. Maybe, sometimes, being different could be a very good thing. True it makes one stand out, but where would we be if we only had meat, not milk? or milk and not meat?

Milk vs meat - sometimes I need the simplest things - the beginnings.

Simplicity. Starting like a baby on milk.

What (I wondered) is the most basic and simple thing missing for most of us? For me?

At my daughter's, my grandson begged me to read some books written by Max Lucado. He especially liked the one about wooden people labeled with gold stars and grey dots (I think it was titled 'You Are Special').  One girl was different - she had neither dots or stars.  She went to see her maker and talk with him every day.

I think that is a good starting place:
talking with my maker everyday -
getting rid of my stars and dots,
 my pride and my prejudice, (and that of others)
 and restoring the surety that I was created by him
and that he made me the way I am -

so I can be different!

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

Harvest Time.
Autumn.
Thanksgiving.
Family.
Country.

These all seem ingrained and entwined in my psyche.
I was born in the fall.
Canadian Thanksgiving is mid October and in the United States it finishes November nicely after both countries honor veterans.

Falling leaves and crisp air carry color and scent past routines
and daily activities to the very chambers of my heart and mind.

Something primal struggles to surface.
I apply many labels but never feel quite satisfied with a resultant full emptiness that wallows in steady exuberant feelings (that I still as they seem too private to shout or flaunt) until snow finally freezes winter into place and melts that confused state of being into the joyous Christmas season.

A loved hymn encourages me to voice some of those labels, thoughts and feelings - sometimes only to myself.

I start listing labels in my prayers, and they seem to pop out of my mouth each time I open it enough  to breathe.

1 x 1 x one x one x 1 x 1 x one x one x 1 x 1 x one x one x -

you get it ....

TRY IT!

Suddenly it is impossible to be discouraged or 'lost' and burdens become bearable.

1. When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings; name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

[Chorus]
Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your blessings;
See what God hath done.
Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your many blessings;
See what God hath done.

2. Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings; ev’ry doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by.

3. When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold.
Count your many blessings; money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven nor your home on high.

4. So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged; God is over all.
Count your many blessings; angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, no. 241

Text: Johnson Oatman, Jr., 1856–1922  Music: Edwin O. Excell, 1851–19

A STRANGE COMPANION

I love waffles. I made some for breakfast today!
I love blueberries, too!

When I bake them I use the timer on my microwave to let me know the perfect time for a perfect waffle. EASY - except -

I have this strange companion, named Habit, that keeps getting in my way.  When the microwave beeps, and I have wandered away and gone on auto-pilot, I tend to open the empty beeping microwave - and look inside BEFORE remembering my waffle.

 (I know myself well enough to plan for the contingency of an irritating continuing beep to ensure my kitchen has no smoke damage and that I eventually get breakfast).

How many things do you do on auto-pilot? I have tried to open my front door by clicking the remote for my car - weird, I know!
Make your own list.  You know you have one - or more.

A few years ago our kitchen floor was replaced.  As is often the case, there was a 'hitch-in-the-get-along' and instead of taking a couple days my frig stayed in the garage for 2 weeks or more.  When it returned to its rightful domain my sons would come home and go straight to the frig - still in the garage, right? NOT!

One day one of them stuck their head into the kitchen and asked me, "Mom, do you have any idea what I came out to the garage for?" I laughed and pointed to it.

He had built a strong continuing habit in a only a few days!

Since that time I notice habits more - my own and yours.  Some are funny (taking a bite of something because it is in your hand - or trying to write with it - icky either way).  Some are down right scary - have you ever driven somewhere and realized after you got there that you set out to go somewhere else and that where you arrived is where you usually go on a regular basis? One day I needed to pick up my child and drove halfway to town (in the opposite direction) before I realized I was on auto-pilot.  Scary to think other drivers are paying that same amount of attention or less ...

Prophets tell us regular scripture study and prayer are beneficial habits. My 2 year old grandchild gets 'her' scriptures and demands our nightly routine if we miss it. She opens an inexpensive copy on her lap, points at pictures, and recites a verse as it is read slowly for her to parrot. She wants to take a turn like everyone else in her world is doing.  This habit will print the rythmns and nuances from God's words onto her very soul.

Now she is learning reverence in prayer as her family bows in a circle together. She is just beginning - she will learn that jumping on or yelling in the face of someone kneeling with closed eyes or hitting them will not help her (or those around her) find real happiness. Kind example with gentle teaching and guidance will change her more quickly than any scolding or punishment ever can. For now I imagine Heavenly Father smiles at her naivety.

I hope he smiles at mine. I pray he will patiently and gently help me learn the things that will help me and others find genuine joy - here and now as well as more enduring and lasting happiness - help me build beneficial habits of obedience and diligence.

All his commandments are intended to lovingly guide me and assist me to that end. Prophets tell us that his work and his glory are to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man - our joy and our happiness.

I learned, as a child, many things that I habitually take for granted.  I know the reality of a supreme being - a loving, kind, generous, devoted Father in Heaven. I know I can talk to him and with him. The habits of my parents and grandparents, influenced by the habits of generation upon generation of their parents and grandparents, are now passed to a new generation.

Yet each generation must chose for itself its own habits - its own companions.

What companions of habit walk by your side? compassion or addiction? generosity or gluttony/greed? thankfulness or ingratitude?

Each of us have a few strange companions.  I seek good companions - habits that are better practices. We can know and define them easily. Service and kindness were the practice and repeated examples that Jesus Christ lived.  His actions brought light and life to himself and all people at all times.  He lived the perfect example.  As I read about it, learn from it and study that example I find habits that are not such strange companions at all.

SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

Nursery is good preparation for the ‘School of Hard Knocks’ otherwise known as LIFE. Since most children that age (about 2 usually) are not articulate enough to tell me about their nursery experience I have to describe it from my own point of view.

If you enter the classroom and claim the nearest or nicest toy as ‘mine’ a variety of options may occur: someone may ‘share’ with you, someone may grab it back and yell/cry ‘mine’ themselves or an adult may mediate turn taking or time out of some kind. 

The first time a 2 year old announces ‘mine’ even the other young children are likely to share and give the newcomer a bit of space to adjust. After that it becomes only a matter of time until anyone that ‘greedy grabs’ constantly will find themselves in a fight – sometimes a vicious fight with scratching, kicking, punching, biting or all of the above and more.

Cynthia, my 2 year old granddaughter, attended nursery yesterday.  Suffice it to say it was not a very happy day.  She discovered that most adults uniformly expect her to share and that failure to do so has consequences.

WOW! Same thing as happens at home! Novel eh?

I am learning a lot from this 2 year old – again.  I think I learned some of these things repetitively in the past, with all of my own 6 children and several of my other grandkids.  I ponder anew my responsibility to share my place and position on the planet.

In scripture Jesus taught that the first commandment is to Love God and the second is to Love Our Neighbor As Ourselves. I have to ask myself, do I? really, do I? even the ones that rob me or punch or bite me?

After teaching the 1^st and 2^nd commandments Christ then instructed that ‘there is none other commandment greater than these’.

NONE? None at all?

Not much wiggle room there me thinks.  Maybe I will have to repent – again.  And you - no more greedy grabbing K? or punching or biting, K?!

Let's play nice. ;)