Udder Chaos

This used to hang in my kitchen.

I used to milk cows. I was technically labeled a "Dairy Maid". When asked by the tax preparer of my occupation during that stint, I announced that title. She looked at me as if I wore the iconic dress, apron & bonnet & carried a pail everyday to work. She asked about the farm I worked at & the cows. I obliged with some details of early morning cow herding & milking.

I loved milking the cows! Now there were a few cows that I didn't get along with, but I tolerated them. There were "girls" that I named. The cows just had numbers, no names. It felt very impersonal to me to say, "Good morning, 213." So I renamed her Dixie. I knew a lot of the cows when they were calves. I even cried over a couple of them that had to leave due some problem the Farmer couldn't fix.

I didn't mind the smell. I would come home in the mornings reeking like the farm. There were bad days when it seemed like the whole morning was going down the manure gutter. I would sometimes ride home with less clothes then I started out with. I've been pooed, peed & slobbered on by the girls. I fell one morning in the free stall barn & became COVERED in stinky brown goop. I had my knuckles broken by some wild heifers. I had my ribs bruised by the Farmer, a gate & an unwilling heifer that calved & need milked. I've had my feet & toes stepped on more times that I could count. I got a hernia during my employment at the farm that required surgery to repair. I went to visit the girls with staples holding my belly button together because I missed them & ended up helping the vet do surgery on one of my favorite cows, Scooter.

I don't tell you these things to build myself up or to make you feel bad for me. I want you to understand that even though there were days I would sit in the hay mound & cry, I absolutely loved that life. I did this for 5 years.  

One evening my Hubby came home from work & mentioned that I might have to quit. "Quit?" "Ummm, yeah. I'm getting a new position at work. A supervisor position. I have to go into work earlier." Up until that point I would wake up at 3:15am to go bring the cows to the milking parlor by 4 am. I would leave the farm at 6:50 am to be home right before 7am. George would leave, I would change clothes & wash up really quick & then get Girly ready for school. It worked perfectly. Sometime during the day I would sneak a nap so I could stay up with Hubby after the kids went to sleep.

"There has to be another way," I pleaded. "Not unless you can leave earlier." I started to search for solutions. "I can't leave any earlier, it's not fair for the others at the farm." Hubby tried to console me. "Well, I'll be getting a raise, so you won't need to work." "I guess."

This is not what I had planned. Why would God snatch my passion away from me? Doesn't He know that I LOVE cows? 

"For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills"- Psalm 50:10 

God owns all the cows. He knows ALL their names. He knows how much milk each cow makes. He created them on Day 6.

"God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock [cattle] according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." - Genesis 1:25 (insert mine)

I couldn't see the proverbial forest through the trees. This was a God-send. I just couldn't see it at that moment. I was starting to homeschool the Boy. I had a hard time keeping any semblance of a clean house, teaching my Boy, helping Girly & not be short-tempered with my family. I was putting myself & my wants ahead of their needs. I was disobeying God.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,  not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." - Philippians 2:3-4

I wanted to be with the cows. I found solace in their quiet ways. I enjoyed watching them sway as they walked. They didn't yell at me when I didn't understand what they wanted from me like Girly. I didn't have to teach them how to spell like the Boy. I didn't have to try to understand about electronics when Hubby was talking about work. It was calming to be with the girls.

God spoke to my heart & reminded me that He already gave me what I needed at home. I didn't need to go looking elsewhere for contentment. 

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:" - Ecclesiastes 3:1

Being a dairy maid was a season of my life just as being a child or a mom with small children. These are just seasons of our lives. It is just a season that will pass like spring changing into summer. It's not a better season, just one with different qualities. You may prefer autumn to winter, but you can't stop it from happening. You can't rush the seasons or hold them back.

"They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.'" - Jeremiah 5:24

I have found that it's best to not fight the changing seasons in my life but to embrace them. They can change at any moment whether you're ready or not.