A Hammer, New Calves and a Song

                This year's Good Friday began with a sizable list of tasks to accomplish. Thanks to “Safer at Home” measures, every responsibility was on the farm. Unfortunately, I found myself complaining to my sister on the phone when she called.

                After our conversation, as I walked to get a count on the cattle, I noticed the wayward red steer was back in the meadow. I thought Add one more item to the list. Evidently, my earlier fence repair had been ineffective.

                 I noticed Baby Belle, a seven-year old cow, was not with the herd. but I spotted her on the other side of the big pond. Sure enough, she had a newborn calf. Deciding to give her space, I walked on looking for Princess Charlotte, dubbed this because the little princess of England was named on the day this red white-faced cow was born.

Finding her, I proceeded to locate where the breachy steer broke into the meadow. Since I needed Dad’s old pickup with the tools and supplies needed for minor fence repair, I walked back to get it.

Driving back, there was Baby Belle with her new caramel-colored calf. I gave her a couple pounds of “celebratory creep.” I guess this tradition stemmed from rewarding my students following big accomplishments. She gobbled ravenously the pellets while I ascertained we had a Good Friday blessing – a healthy heifer calf.

As I replaced the first missing fence clip, I recalled the complaining words earlier. It could be called “venting” but the scripture “Do everything without complaining and grumbling” loomed large in my mind. I had asked forgiveness earlier for the complaints that spewed from my lips. As I had driven back to the pasture, I prayed, “God, You, in no way, held my grumbling against me. You blessed Mother and me with a brand-new calf. You truly showed me the truth of As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.”

Sue Schutz, Mary Jo Thurber and
Norma Nell Wheatley 

Soon the pinging sound of the hammer reverberated loudly around me, as I replaced a missing fence staple. Instantly, I was transported to the first Good Friday when Jesus was being crucified. As I remembered His death, the song, “Were You There,” played in my mind as it had when I was only three or four years old and listened intently as Mother practiced with Peggy Barnes, Sue Schultz and Norma Nell Wheatley, a trio of girls from her Sunday School class at Masham Baptist Church.* Their three-part harmony captured my little ears along with the song’s haunting melody. Although I understood little about crucifixion, the music conveyed a sad, mournful time to my heart.(Link to another post about this song: https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/04/easter-sunday-and-60-cent-trio-book.html)

The resounding clang of metal on metal when driving in a fence post evoked the thought Yes, I was there because sins just like my complaining were laid on Him. Then I remembered Paul’s long treatise of this doctrine in Romans 6 and these words, we believers were “crucified with Him” - that is “our old self” – so we could be "alive to God in Jesus Christ.” Not only did He free us from the deadly strangle hold of sin, but His death and resurrection empower us to live the new life in Christ.

Then as I loaded the tools into the back of the pickup, I recalled my favorite verse of the song.

Were you there when He rose up from the dead?

Were you there when He rose up from the dead?

     Oh! Sometimes I feel like shouting glory, glory, glory,

Were you there when He rose up from the dead?

                                                                                                                           Public Domain

                Frequently when singing the third line, I recall Dad. Often, Dad would come into the house to share a blessing he had experienced on the farm or we would share some good thing that had happened to us. Instantly, he would throw both hands in the air as though the Woodland Cougars had just scored, and exclaim, “Glory!”

As I passed Princess Charlotte, she had calved, as Dad liked to say. She was nuzzling that red white-faced baby to get it to stand. I watched quietly for a few minutes. Not wanting to startle her, I didn’t shout, “Glory,” but my heart worshiped as I realized the wonderful blessings God gives. Most importantly, I am redeemed because my trust is fully in Jesus, not because I am sinless but by accepting the sacrificial death of Jesus. I still sin by complaining and grumbling, but His blood continues cleansing those sins. All I can whisper is, “Glory, glory, glory.”

That’s how we should celebrate the resurrection of Jesus  - not just on Easter Sunday, but every day of the week. May our hearts and mouths find daily reasons to shout or whisper “Glory, glory, glory.”

*A later trio of girls that sang in the Masham Baptist Church was composed of Nancy and Janie Leforce along with Linda Laird.