We always learn
more from our failures than our successes. After that warm but, fateful winter
day, I have been extremely judicious in watering the cattle at the stock tank
if a frozen pond is a possibility. The process of filling the tank and plugging in the de-icer is a no-brainer compared to dealing with the sadness and loss of profit from a drowned calf.
The words “hard
freeze” in a weather forecast trigger formulation of a plan to get the herd
into the area Dad referred to as “the trap.” The livestock tank bumps up to a
frost-free hydrant in “the trap.”
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| A 2020 calf I was protecting - As I tell Mother, those babies are our purpose for keeping a herd. |
Recently, upon
hearing the dreaded words, I walked up to the big pond where the mallards
glided through its water. But with areas partially frozen along the bank where cattle
normally drink, I put my “hard freeze” plan into action.
I normally feed in
the late afternoon, but the situation required a schedule adjustment. I turned on the hydrant and the filling of
the tank began. Then I put out the bale before opening the trap gate for the
cattle. The sound of the feed truck “stirred up” the bovines. They
seldom bawl except for their calves, but I heard quite a few discordant,
dissatisfied sounds from them. I used my usual sooking calls and told
them the pellets were coming. How satisfied they were to indulge in the pellets
so early in the day! They eagerly entered the trap.
As I mingled among
them, I thought of how impatient those cows were. I provided nourishment
faithfully for them. They had no idea how diligently I had prepared a watering source, a freshly unwrapped bale, and set the gate so they could graze in the meadow. Yet how unwillingly they had been to wait. Instead they had bawled their complaints loudly.
Over fifty
scriptures mention one form or another of the word “wait.” Humans are no
different than the cows. Increasingly in our society, people are unwilling to
wait and their impatience overflows into road rage, shootings while waiting in
a queue, anger at technology that doesn’t respond fast enough and more
incidents than can be enumerated.
Over and over, we read
of a Biblical hero or heroine developing maturity during a waiting season in
their lives. From Moses in the “waiting” mode while shepherding for 40 years in
the wilderness, Noah building the ark for 120 years while awaiting the Great
Flood, or Queen Esther fearfully but resolutely fasting and awaiting whether
King Ahasuerus would spare her people, her family and her own life. Scores of other accounts required obedient, godly believers to wait.
Joseph endured
betrayal, enslavement, mistreatment, false accusation, and abandonment after being a friend. He underwent these happenings one after
another for over a dozen years while his brothers' guilt compounded. At the same time, God was gradually positioning Joseph to be in near proximity to the powerful Pharaoh who would need his God-given managerial skills honed during the harsh years in Joseph's life.
Observing the Lord’s
working in lives of these Biblical men and women, we should not be surprised
when seasons of waiting come into our Christian experience. Instead this prayer
of David from Psalm 25:5 should be lifted up daily to our Father - Lead
me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I
wait all the day.
Jeremiah, in the throes of captivity and destruction
brought about by the disobedience of his nation, writes this encouraging verse
in the middle of his lamentation. Through his tears, Jeremiah remembers The
Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. May
those words from Lamentations 3:25 illumine our times of waiting, confident
that our relationship with Him will flourish even in difficult times.
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