The Cow

The Cow – a story by Carol Warren

Once there was a very nice pretty cow that lived on a big beautiful farm. The cow’s name was Gertrude. Gertrude was a pretty tan color. She was sleek and smooth. She had a long tail that touched the ground and two horns on her head that were about six inches long. Gertrude was very important to the farmer because she provided milk for the farmer. The farmer used this milk to drink but he also used the milk to make cream, butter, cheese and yogurt. Every morning bright and early Gertrude came to the barn to be milked. The farmer never had to call her to come; she just knew when to come and was waiting for him there. But one-day all of that began to change. Gertrude noticed that she did not give a full pale of milk like she usually did. “Well,” thought Gertrude, “Everyone has an off day now and then.” But Gertrude continued to give less and less milk until Gertrude was hardly giving half a pale of milk. Gertrude was so ashamed that she was not providing as much milk for the farmer as she used to. What if the farmer decided he needed a new cow, one that was younger, that would be better at giving milk? Oh my, what would happen to Gertrude then? “Well,” Gertrude thought, “if she was no longer useful he might just sell her to someone else or worse yet chop her up into steaks and hamburger and eat her.” Oh this was awful. Gertrude was very upset. Gertrude began to dread going to be milked. She became fearful and ashamed. She didn’t want to see the milk continuing to be less and less. She worried about her future, gulp, if she had one. So she stopped waiting at the barn door for the farmer in the mornings. Now he had to go looking for her and call her. When he called her, she would just turn her head and pretend not to hear. She acted haughty and prideful but really that was just the way she acted to cover her shame. Finally it got to where the farmer had to go get her and tie a rope around her neck to tug on her and pull her back into the barn to milk her. The farmer couldn’t understand what had gotten into his cow. Why she was acting so stubborn and rebellious. Though she was not behaving well at all the farmer was there every morning calling to her, going to get her if he had to and getting what milk he could from her. He always talked soothingly to Gertrude; he just couldn’t figure out why she didn’t seem to be listening. But finally the day came when there was no milk. Gertrude had dried up. It was horrifying. She knew the farmer was going to call her to come soon. She couldn’t bear to face him now that she had no milk at all, so Gertrude ran away. Because the farmer had carefully fenced in his pasture land Gertrude could not leave him all together but she did run to the far corner of the pasture where there were some woods and there she hid in the trees because of her shame. She heard the farmer calling her but Gertrude would not come. The farmer went out with his rope to bring her in but he couldn’t find her. That is when he figured that she must have be hiding in the trees. The farmer went to look for her there. But every time Gertrude could tell the farmer was getting close she would sneak off and hide in another place in the woods. Finally the farmer caught her and tied his rope around her neck pulling her to the barn. He tied her to the stall but he didn’t try to milk her. He knew that she was dry. He just stood there staring sadly at her. It made Gertrude feel very uncomfortable, so to hide her shame she acted like she didn’t care and turned her head away from him. Finally the farmer spoke. “Why have you been so disobedient and rebellious to me? Have I done something to you to make you angry with me? Have I not been a good Owner for you?” The Cow – A Story Page 1 Copyright Carol Warren published with permission by DramaShare

What? Gertrude had never thought of it as being rebellious she was just trying to hide her shame. She was not trying to make the farmer feel bad. So finally she admitted to the farmer what the problem was. “I don’t have any milk to give you anymore.” Said Gertrude hanging her head in shame. “I know that.” Said the farmer “But now you wont want me anymore,” Gertrude whined, “Because I am no longer useful. You will probably sell me to someone who is mean or devour me as steaks and hamburger.” At the thought of that Gertrude began cry. The Farmer said, “Oh I see what the problem is now, you don’t trust me. You are my cow Gertrude; I own you, so if that is what you think I will do, you must think I am a bad owner and I can’t or won’t take good care of you when you need me to. But if I am such a bad farmer why did I go get you and chase you down in the woods to bring you home when I knew that you didn’t have any milk? You have judged me harshly because of your own lack.” The cow was shocked. She didn’t realize that it would seem to the Farmer that she didn’t trust him. She wasn’t trying to say he was a bad owner. “But you won’t want me anymore if I can’t give milk. There is nothing else I can do except die so you can eat my flesh and devour me.” The farmer shook his head; “You are still judging me through your lack. When I bought you as a calf could you give milk then?” “Well no.” Gertrude said. “Didn’t I take good care of you and feed you.” The farmer asked. “Well yes, but that was because you knew I would grow up and give you milk.” Gertrude said. “Gertrude, I don’t care for you just because of your milk,” the farmer said, “I care for you because you’re mine. We’ve been together a long time and I love you.” But still Gertrude hung her head and was sad. “You are still judging me by what ‘you’ can or cannot do.” The farmer said. “You still can’t believe that I can love you even though you have nothing tangible to give me.” The farmer went and got the milk stool and sat by Gertrude’s side like he does when he is going to milk her. He put the pale under Gertrude and began to milk Gertrude. Gertrude sighed, “Thank you for trying farmer but there is no milk.” “I know what I am doing Gertrude,” the farmer said, “you just let me do this. I’m a good farmer and you must learn to trust me.” Day after day the farmer would bring Gertrude in, get his stool and pale and begin to milk Gertrude as though she had milk, but day after day nothing went into the pale. The farmer would use the best lanoline to rub Gertrude’s udder so it wouldn’t get chapped and sore just like he used to when she had milk. He brushed Gertrude down and pulled the burrs and mud out of her long tail and gave her the best oats and cracked corn to eat. It was all very nice but for Gertrude it was also very humiliating. The farmer was being so nice and still Gertrude had no milk to give him. “Why do you keep milking me when I have no milk to give you?” Gertrude asked. “It is just a waste of your time.” “Oh really?” said the farmer, “I guess you can’t see the milk that is in this pale as I can then.”

The Cow – A Story Page 2 Copyright Carol Warren published with permission by DramaShare

Gertrude looked again at the empty pale and then at the farmer. She hung her head again. She could not see any milk and the more she thought about it the worse she felt. “Gertrude can you not see that the pale is filled with the milk of love and kindness.” The farmer said, “Your other milk nourished my body and that is nice but I am not just a body am I? I have a spirit and soul as well. This milk of love and kindness nourishes my soul.” Gertrude finally understood; it wasn’t the white milk she was use to seeing but the milk of sweet love and kindness coming from their long friendship and it really did make a difference to the farmer. Gertrude began to feel happy again, even contended. Why after a time she even began to give real milk again. Something she thought she would never do. All because the farmer helped her realize that she was judging him harshly because of her own lack. When she stopped judging him by the way she felt about herself she was able to allow him to love her. When she learned to trust the farmer and come to him no matter what, everything changed. She would never make the farmer call and search for her again. She would always be waiting at his barn door in the mornings because she knows she can trust him to be a good owner and to love her even when it is hard for her to love herself. We can learn a lot from Gertrude. We often don’t realize that we judge God harshly because of our own lack; because of what we can or cannot do; or because of what we do or do not have. We are so afraid of failure that without realizing it we hide from him. But He remains ever faithful to us. Sometimes we don’t realize our attitude boils down to the fact that we don’t trust God to be good to us and take good care of us. Perhaps because things didn’t go the way ‘we’ planned or wasn’t what ‘we’ expected. But in Jeremiah 29:11 the Lord says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” How distorted things are when we can only see them through our problems or our pain. We need the Lord’s help to see things correctly. So many things in this story speak to us, for example the fact that the farmer fed Gertrude cracked corn and oats. Cows have to eat to become big and strong and to give good milk. We as Christians have to eat to become strong and effective. The only thing we can eat that feeds our spirit is the Word of God. The grass that Gertrude ate was like the written Word of God and it is good as a standard. We need to be careful not to neglect it, but the oats and cracked corn the farmer provided was like the intimate spoken Word of God and we need that as well. It is very strengthening and helps us be productive and fruitful for the Lord. Did you know that cows have four stomachs? They chew their food sending it into the first stomach, and then later that food will come back into their mouth to be chewed some more until it is ready to be sent to the second stomach and so forth. We call that chewing the cud. We as Christians need to chew our food more as well. Sometimes we just skim over the Word of God quickly and get almost nothing out of it. But if we will read it (which is like chewing it) and then let it set a while and chew it again and again enjoying the flavor of it and getting all the nutrients out of it, we will get more out of the Word of God. It is the same for the spoken Word of God. Many people receive prophecies or God speaks to them about something and they never even write it down or remember it for later. If it is important enough for the Lord to speak it to us then we need to take our time and chew on it a while, like chewing our cud and really make sure we get out of it what the Lord meant to provide for us. The Cow – A Story Page 3 Copyright Carol Warren published with permission by DramaShare

What do you think the lanoline the farmer used on the cows udders stood for? That’s right the anointed oil of the Holy Spirit. Notice it was the farmer that applied it and not the cow. We need to let God apply his Holy Spirit to our heart and lives daily and really rub it into our spirits or sometimes our spirits can get raw and chapped from the harshness of the world. Gertrude had a long tail, what do you think the fact that she had a long tail means? Yes, she can get it caught in things; it gets full of briars and mud. Who cleaned Gertrude’s tail? Was it the farmer or Gertrude? That’s right it was the farmer. When Gertrude came into the barn in obedience the farmer was able clean her tail so that the dirt and burrs wouldn’t cause her to get infected. When we come to the Lord daily and wash in the blood of Jesus Christ, He is able to wash away the things of the world that cling to us from day to day so that we don’t become spiritually infected with the things of this world. Just by living on the earth we are naturally going to pick up nasty stuff but the Lord will deal with it if we let Him. What do you think her horns stood for? Horns are the way that cows protect themselves. But usually a cow is not very good a being able to protect themselves, say from a pack of wolves or a mountain lion are they? That is why the cow is suppose to live in the pasture close to the barn so she can come in to the enclosed safe place at night. Wild animals wont be able to get to her there. If she stays too far away she will not be able to get into the barn’s safety in time. She will only be safe, as she stays close. We also need to be a part of the local church and stay close to the Lord. When we get out on our own it’s just not safe. We are not supposed to be able to spiritually protect ourselves but we are able to hide our lives in the Lord Jesus, He is our refuge, our safe place, and our barn. He is our protected place. We need to go into Him to hide daily and spend time with him daily. When things around us get dark we need to seek Him out and hide in Him. We need to literally enclose ourselves to the Lord. We should never be far from Him. The fence stands for Christian limits but if we push against our limits enough our fence will come down and we will be out of all protection. To get out of the fenced in area puts us in danger of getting run over on a road, thieves, getting lost, or getting eaten by wild animals. It is an act of disobedience. We need to stay inside the guidelines the Lord has given us in His word at all times. Obedience keeps us within the Lord ‘s safe limits. The farmer is not just out for what He can get out of the cow; He wants a relationship with the cow because He cares about her. He is not bad, uncaring or out to devour the cow, He cares for us. He doesn’t care just because of what we can do for Him but simply because we are His. We need to be careful and guard ourselves against bad attitudes and feelings that would lie to us and tell us that God doesn’t care about us or that He is only interested in us for what we can do for Him. The farmer went and got Gertrude with a rope. The rope could stand for several things. When we run off what does the Lord use to pull us back. Well first He tries to call us with His Holy Spirit but if that doesn’t work sometimes He allows us to get ourselves into to trouble so that we will see that we need to come home to Him. If He can tie a rope of love around our neck He will but if we won’t allow Him to tie a rope of love around our neck to bring us back some times He will allow a rope of trouble to get our attention. Every cow is branded, then there is never a question of who that cow belongs to. We are branded with the Holy Spirit in our lives that we belong to the Lord. It is like a bell The Cow – A Story Page 4 Copyright Carol Warren published with permission by DramaShare

around our neck continually calling to Him and letting Him know where we are and what we are doing. Often even when we are in trouble or disobedience we continue to pray and praise God. That is good because that is a bell calling the Lord to find us and rescue us. What other things can you think of that might apply to the cow and farmer. How about the fact that not all owners are good? What are some other owners you can think of? It might be the world, the devil, the flesh, things, and how about self? These owners will only devour us and leave us to the wolves. They will never care for us the way the farmer (Jesus) does. We should never run away to one of these bad owners. If one of these owners tries to grab our lives we need to call on the Lord to come claim us back (redeem us) from them by His blood. Do you ever look at the Lord through your own lack? Is it hard for you to imagine the Lord being happy with you because you’re not happy with your self? I remember once when I was driving down the road talking to the Lord. I was really beating myself up. I had made the same mistake again. I had promised I would never make that mistake again and I did. I did it again. I couldn’t imagine why God even bothered with me. It was evident to me that I didn’t deserve it. I was a mess. I couldn’t even get one thing right. Then the Lord spoke to me. He sounded so stern, almost harsh. I had never heard Him use such a tone of voice. He said, “How dare you.” “Boy I’m in for it now,” I thought, “but I deserve it. Go ahead Lord.” “How dare you.” The Lord said again, “Put on me the way ‘you’ feel about yourself, when I don’t’ feel that way about you. It’s not fair to me. I love you and I’m willing to forgive you and help you but you keep treating me as though I feel about you the way you feel about yourself and I most certainly don’t feel that way. I am here to work through your problems with you, not to hurt you.” What an eye opener. That’s why it is important to have a relationship with the Lord. To get to know the Lord and let Him teach us His ways, His love and how to trust. Gertrude had been around the farmer a long time but it wasn’t until she had a real problem that she came to really begin to know him. God isn’t after you for what you can do for Him; He loves us because we are His. That means we don’t have to yield to fear of failure any more. There is no place for that in the body of Christ. We just need to concentrate on being near Him and walking in relationship with Him. 1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. Amen

The Cow – A Story Page 5 Copyright Carol Warren published with permission by DramaShare