Feedllot Spirituality(A thought on humulitity)
A lesson in humility
"As high as the heavens are above the Earth, so high are my thoughts above your
thoughts."
And yet, God still loves us so much that he sent his only Son to die for us.
Surely, God must see something worthwhile and innocent about us. Is there anything we
can compare our relationship with God to? My experience on our farm has led me to see
some comparisons between cattle we raised and ourselves. It's allowed me to take a
`God's Eye' view of some people and things.
I knew about several cattle being raised for profit on a feedlot. These are not the
pet cows we might think of on a farm, though. These are cattle raised specifically for
meat and profit. Yet, as scripture says, `not one sparrow falls to the Earth without God's
knowing it.' Compare sparrows with these cattle and then how God thinks of us. I think
there are lessons here for us, both in similarities and in differences.
The calves are born from females artificially inseminated and fed with formula
specially prepared to help them grow fast and big.
After they are weaned, they are kept in a corral for the most part and fed on corn
and other grains. I always found it interesting to note that the corn, kept in silos for
storage, was probably fermented pretty well before it was fed to them. I would imagine
that the cattle were probably kept feeling `pretty good' as they grew and fattened on the
feed.
Cattle have large heads with huge brains. They are peaceful animals and rarely
seem to have much excitement on the farm. But, given the chance, they will escape and
run for short distances, although they really have no place to go. They are given large
doses of antibiotics in their feed to keep them as healthy as possible. The farmer watches
them carefully, so as not to let them get out and run around, because that makes the meat
less fatty and not as flavorful.
When the final day arrives, everything starts pretty much as usual except that the
farmer, with some farmhands or dogs, rounds them up and then herds them into a truck to
go to the slaughterhouse. The truck, upon arriving backs up to a chute going downward
into the slaughterhouse floor at a fairly steep angle. As the truck door is opened and the
cattle leave the truck, they stumble down the inclined chute and are shot in the head with a
.22 caliber rifle. They collapse onto a conveyor belt which takes their bodies to be dressed
by butchers. So ends their lives, each of them seemingly oblivious to what's happening.
Not many try to run or even step out of line.
Yet surely those cattle had gotten to know each other, gotten familiar with their
surroundings, even gotten familiar with the farmer and his fieldhands. I think they knew
something was going to happen to them as some of them disappeared into the
slaughterhouse, but they still followed along anyway. Maybe each of them thought they
were pretty hot stuff or even leaders of some kind. The farmer could not afford to devote
any personal time to them for the most part, nor any of his children. They were just
objects, but I think each of them had a slightly different personality-some playful, some
serious, some quiet, some noisy, some rebellious. I think most of those cattle could have
been pets if they had been treated differently, but as just `livestock,' they didn't show
much of their true personalities. Still, some did have definite personalities, as any
farmer's child knows if they've had a cow for a pet.
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I've wondered what God sees in each of us, especially when I think of the billions
of people in this world. Some big, some small, some talented, some pretty, some ugly,
some clumsy, some intelligent, some young and some old. All of us human, though and all
of us worth saving, his own creations. How great God's love must be to encompass each
of us! And more than that, allow us to become his brothers and sisters! And yet, what's
in our minds serves to differentiate us from one another more than anything physical.
Each of us has an inner hope of eternal life. What will he do when he sorts
through us, like those fish caught in the net? What will be the things God is looking for as
we hope to achieve a place in Heaven and in eternal glory? Is it not the fact that we tried
to help other people out of love and were thankful for the gifts God gave us in this life?
That we were unselfish and cheerful, always praising God? That we were truthful and
didn't lie or exaggerate? That we strove to avoid bitterness and resentment, especially
towards him? That we did the best we could with what we had to proclaim him? That we
became friends with him through prayer? That we didn't just go along with the crowd,
but spoke out in love even though others turned away from God?
God the Father looks on us with sorrow, compassion, love and a willingness to
forgive. He expects us to adore Him and follow Jesus closely. But all too often, we're
stuck on the things of this world too much to see past the corral of our surroundings to an
awareness of God and the incredible glory we could have.