Spring is such an amazing time of year. From dark to light. From brown to green. From bloom to flower. From death to life. With each passing day the earth is awakening from it’s slumber, some days a little slower than others, like Monday. But, under that Spring snow new life is bursting forth. It’s beautiful to watch.
Not only is Spring a sight to behold, it is a sound to be heard. Did you know new life has a sound? If you listen carefully, you really can hear the Earth awakening. You can hear the snow melting, the water trickling, the mountain yawning, the grass growing, blossoms opening, Spring peepers peeping, birds chirping, wings flapping. It’s a beautiful sound.
There’s another sign of Spring in our neck of the woods. Cows. Yep, cows. Spring is separation time on the farm behind us. The young and old cows are separated and selected for sale. It makes me a little sad. I’m a fur lover, so I try not to dwell too much on it. Farmers have a completely different perspective than I, it is their livelihood, the way they make their living.
Any kind of separation is really quite awful to think about. A cow and calf being separated, and the cow searching for her young. The separation sounds assault the pleasant Spring sounds. The bawling sound is loud and constant. We usually sleep with our windows cracked because I love the night sounds, but more often than not during separation time, I find myself on the couch with the TV on in the middle of the night. It drowns the sound. But, it is a sound of Spring.
After about a week of searching and calling, eventually, the mother cow just moves on when there is no response. She’ll stop calling and prepare for the next new life. As a human, I apply emotions and feelings to cows which may not exist. Cows either forget about their young or accept the loss and move on to produce another. I can’t quite understand it but I’m not a cow and that’s the circle of life for livestock.
When I was walking the other morning with my hat pulled tight over my ears and humming to block out the sound, I was thinking that the mother cow must feel like God does during separation. We are all separated from Him because of our sin, but He calls each one of us just as the mother calls her young. Sometimes we answer the call, sometimes we don’t. We may bound after Him for a short period of time, but then allow the temptations of the world to intervene and somehow we find ourselves separated from Him. He calls, but when we wander with the world, it’s like turning on the TV in the middle of the night. We try to drown out His voice and fill the call with other things, we busy ourselves with life so we don’t have to respond.
But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
2 Peter 3:8-10
You know, the Lord wants everyone to be with Him for eternity, that’s why He hasn’t yet returned. He’s calling us and waiting for us to respond. No response is a response. Chew on that.
Please don’t think I’m comparing the Lord to a cow. It’s about the separation, the calling, the response, or lack thereof. He calls and calls to us – come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest – come to me and I will lift your burdens – come to me and I will be your provision — come to me and I will love you like no other – come to me and we will live in eternity together forever, never to be separated.
Jesus calls us o’er the tumult
of our life’s wild, restless sea;
day by day his voice invites me,
saying “Christian, follow me!”
Jesus calls us! In your mercy,
Savior, help us hear your call;
give our hearts to your obedience,
serve and love you best of all!
Anyone who doesn’t know Jesus is separated from Jesus – not just a little, but completely, forever. This past Sunday we celebrated Easter. We celebrated the resurrection of our Living Lord. That cross, as awful as it was and as hard as it is to think about, was the calling. Jesus’s death on that cross bridged the gap between God and man so that there is no longer separation. The empty tomb was the cry that went out, your sins are forgiven! Sin no longer separates us from God. All we have to do is answer the call!