Mutual Understanding...

Mutual Understanding...4-10-25

My husband is retired. He would say he is not retired and works harder and more now than before, but he is retired from his career in public service. It will be 17 years next month since his father, Papa, passed away. The Lord has blessed, and my husband has been able to help his mother keep her cows to supplement her income. During that time, he added a few of his own. His mother will be 85 this year and still has her cows because of his diligence and care. I say all this to say, there is a love-hate relationship between my husband and the cows. They are constantly getting out to seek greener pastures or leaning over fences. He is worming, vaccinating, feeding, repairing fences, building new fences, brush hogging, cutting/raking/baling/moving hay, taking cows to the sale, going to pick up supplies, assisting with calves being born, or any number of other things that have to be done when you live on a farm. They are called cattle farmers in my area, and we live on a farm, not a ranch.

This past week has been particularly bad with cows getting out because of the grass growing and the fact that he is no longer putting out hay. He is constantly talking about shooting, kicking, running over, poisoning, or smacking one with anything he can find. He mouths at them constantly. I began to worry that he might actually do something. He laughed this morning and told me, "The cows and I have a mutual understanding. They irritate me, and I mouth at them, but in the end, we get along." It occurred to me that this is the relationship that most married couples also have. We know that the other will be there, and we know that the other will forgive us when we do something that we shouldn't. We do occasionally mess up, but the relationship is one of understanding. Yes, sometimes we irritate each other, but there is a mutual understanding.

You see, my husband extends grace and forgiveness to his cows. Now, I know you are thinking that this is a stretch to my bible verse. Not really. We are so willing to extend grace to creatures. We understand that they do things that irritate, they misbehave, or become unruly, but in the end, we love them and accept that will happen. When I think about this, I think about the Israelites. They grumbled, complained, would ask for forgiveness, and then would fall back into the same trap of grumbling and complaining. God extended grace in the form of forgiveness over and over again. Just like the cows that my husband forgives and understands, the Israelites were given forgiveness each time they sought God. Is there a limit to God's grace? 2 Corinthians 12:9 states, "My grace is sufficient for you." Romans 5:17, "For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." We have an abundance of grace. We have forgiveness. We have salvation, and we have the promise of life everlasting.

The cows, on the other hand, he might just take one or two to the sale after this week.