Food for Thought . . . from a cow’s perspective . . .
Ever since Grant and I read Purpose Drive Life by Rick Warren I have subscribed to his daily newsletter. I don’t always have time to read them but the one that came across in my email today totally caught my eye. The title was “What Cows Teach Us About Meditation”.
Yall.
Of course I read it!
I mean, how could you not read it with a title like that?! I know a little about cows. I love cows! This had to be a good one for me. My very first thought was “this one is surely gonna have something I can really relate to”. And it indeed did. Scripture for this email devotional by Pastor Rick came from Joshua 1:8.
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful”. Joshua 1:8 (NIV)
The devotional was about meditation.
Ok so cows. Meditation. I’m with you so far. I don’t know about your cows, but my cows always look like they’re deep in thought. At least I like to think so anyway, LOL.
So, Pastor Rick talked about that if you look up the word “meditation” you will likely find the word “rumination.” And what is rumination? Well, in a cow world, it’s what a cow does when she’s chewing her cud – rolling it over and over again in her mouth as she just kind of chews on it.
Then he went on to say the following (and I’ll quote it here – full credit on the below to Pastor Rick):
“Here’s how it works: Cows eat the grass, chew it up, and send it to their stomachs pretty quickly. There it lies in the stomach, soaking up all of those acids and chemicals. Then, after a while, the cow burps it back up with a new and renewed flavor, chews on that grass and some other grass, and then does the whole process over again. Cows repeat this several times. They get every ounce of nutrition out of the grass. Biblical meditation is kind of like that; it’s thought digestion. God wants you to get every ounce of spiritual nutrition out of his Word. He wants you to chew on it, digest it, and then chew on it some more. Give it a try today. Don’t just read God’s Word, but take time to chew on it—to meditate.”
That is some good advice right there. How often do we open our bibles and read something, or sit in church and hear what the Pastor says and it just kind of goes in one ear and out the other? Or we read it or listen to it but it just doesn’t sit there for long. But what if we let it? What if we too that verse of scripture that we read or heard or those words of wisdom and truth from our Pastor and really, I mean really let it be thought provoking and we meditated over the words of that scripture? God moves in mighty ways, friends. And He wants us to hear Him. To know Him. I could go on more and more with this line of thought but I know you follow me.
So let’s all give this a try, ya’ll. Let’s each find that verse of scripture to let really sink in and meditate on. To “chew on” so to speak. Here, I’ll start you out with one and after you’ve chewed on this one for a while, go pick another one and do the same thing.
“Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Matthew 4:4 (NIV)
This scripture comes from the book of Matthew when Jesus was in the desert and had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. He was hungry. Satan began tempting him and that was his reply. Think about what that means for you. What it meant for Jesus. See what God is going to show you. To me this scripture talks about our need to read the bible and be in the Word of God. Let’s see what it shows you! As always, I’m here.
I’m praying. Maybe we haven’t met yet, maybe your my third cousin twice removed, maybe you’re a neighbor – whoever you are I’ll keep on praying for you, too. Shoot me a message. Send me a prayer request. May God bless each of you.
Here’s a link if you want to read Pastor Rick’s full devotional: