Being Still with the Cows

It started off as another ordinary day. Wake up. Shower (maybe? the days blur sometimes). Get breakfast for everyone. Send hubby off to work. Play with kids while doing laundry, dishes, refereeing the kids play, trying to get the house picked up…you get the picture. 

By lunchtime I was ready for a break after listening to whining, not getting much accomplished, still mulling over what to make for supper (with the few ingredients that currently work for everyone), and not having had a break over the weekend (cuz like most people we plan/commit/start too many things)! 

To put it simply – I was drained. You’re probably familiar with that feeling! (I’m just going to assume you do so I’m not alone here.) 

Then my mother in law called me. She said, “Hey, it’s snowing, it’s pretty outside, why don’t you bring the kids to the farm and I’ll watch them so you can go take some pictures”. I LOVE taking pictures. And I’ve been wanting to capture some pics of the farm animals with gently falling snow and sunshine for a while. 

I thanked her for the offer and said if there’s time after naps and getting a few things done I’d love to. If you read my recent post on The Problem with Perfection you would be shaking your head right now – because letting go of my “to do lists” is something I’m trying to get better at. 

Around 4:30 pm, we finally made it to the farm. I make it sound like a long journey. It’s really only 10ish minutes away, but there’s packing the kids up and whatnot. Sometimes I feel like a superstar when I get out of the house in 15 minutes with them. This was not one of those days. Thankfully, the kids love being at the farm with their Grandma and Papa. Dropping them off is always easy.

As I bundled myself up, I found myself struggling with a bad attitude. Thoughts like: “You’re only going to get 30 minutes of good light” “It’s feeding time, they’ll probably all be clumped around the fresh bale of hay” “It’s really darn cold out” “I hope the camera doesn’t get too wet with the falling snow” started creeping in. 

Realizing I needed a tune-up, I said a quick prayer asking God to show me one piece of Joy. He answered my prayer tenfold and this is how:

Upon walking down towards the barn, I finally looked up and saw this picture. The simplicity of the cows walking in a line, heading to where they knew fresh hay would be, working as a group. It’s something natural to them – but God created that innate motion for them to do so. Amazing!

When I crawled/rolled under the fence (I’m sure it was graceful) most of the cows were munching away not paying any attention to this purple blob covered from head to toe walking towards them. I snapped a few pics. Nothing spectacular. Just cows eating hay. I much prefer the “out in the wild” scene. Disappointment started to seep in again. 

Reminding myself to look for joy, I walked up to a tree and leaned against it. Soaked in the utter stillness. Let the snowflakes hit my face. Thanked God for this moment by myself to think.

When I looked up almost half the herd was walking towards me. Now the cows know me, sure. But they don’t “know-know” me. I’m not at the farm as much as I’d like (my own doing). It’s not like they see me every day. They probably do remember the short girl with the funny looking black thing always looped around her neck making clicking noises. 

So, you can understand my excitement when of their own free will they started approaching me. I was thrilled! This had never happened before. Of course, they would let me close and there are the favorites that always like a good head rub, but this was different. 

Not intending to get this close I had the larger zoom lens on the camera. No way were any of those pics going to focus this close up. I didn’t want to move too fast and startle them, but I wanted pictures to document this occasion. I snapped a few quick shots knowing they probably wouldn’t turn out. Then this voice started whispering to me “Be Still”. 

Be still I thought? That’s the last thing I want to do!!! Again, something inside me whispered, “Be Still”. So, I stood still. 

One by one my favorites, and then several others, kept walking up to me until we were face to nose! I was surrounded by these big, furry, warm, curious cows! It was incredible. 

I may have looked a tad crazy as I stood there chatting with them about their day and mine. Explaining how the camera works, why I like taking pictures of them, why I found being a farmer’s wife peaceful and stressful, how impressed I was with them for being brave and coming up to me, and other miscellaneous things.

At one point I told them I was going to kneel to switch camera lenses. While doing so, Do-Si-Do (# 02 – he’s a big lovey!) leaned down and gave me a huge, warm, sandpapery, slimy cow kiss. Then all sorts of kisses were being dealt out. And the others were licking my hat, coat, shoes, pants – the camera! And you know what – I giggled! Yes, I giggled – I don’t think I’ve giggled like that in years. 

The feeling could only be described as Joy. I stayed there way past the point of being comfortable. I lost feeling in a few fingers, my face felt like ice and my toes were going numb.  BUT – this was God talking to me. This was God providing what I needed.  It was His way of reminding me that he knows my struggles. He hears me. He wants to help me. It was God’s way of blessing me for listening to his still small voice of “Be Still”.

I will remember that evening for a long time for many reasons. 

After a little while, the cows decided they were hungry and couldn’t eat me, so they wandered off. However, I still got a few good pics in! More importantly, a vision of “JOY” will be imprinted on my heart for a long time. 

Psalm 46:10 “He says, “Be still, and know that I am God,…”