It’s weaning time on the farm! Honestly, even the litter of kittens is getting weaned! The calves have grown well and the mothers have done a great job, but the time has come to separate the calves from their mothers. This can be a stressful time for everyone involved!
We wean “the kids,” as we call them, at 205 days of age. That is approximately 7 months old. Now if you are a parent or a grandparent, you can probably relate a little bit to what is going on. Have you ever taken a 1 to 2-year-old off the bottle? Just imagine when the baby is 600 to 800 pounds!
My kids are no longer little! Where did time go? At the ages they are now (15, 17, & 20), bedtimes don’t look anything like they used to! No one is getting a bedtime story and needing to be tucked in anymore. As a matter of fact, most every night ends with us going to bed before them and sometimes, they tuck us in and turn out the light!
But given the opportunity to review this really cute book, “PJ Time”, gave me the chance to reminisce on the days when they were small and we would snuggle together to read a devotional or a bedtime story. Even as they grew older, each of them would do their own devotions. Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 Our hope and prayer as parents, is that they will continue those habits long after we aren’t tucking them in!
On this Easter morning, I can’t help but reflect on this photo that I took back in February while visiting Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, Alabama. This bee was working diligently and carried a great deal of pollen. Yet at this moment, the bee was on its way to gather more pollen from this Camellia flower. What are you carrying?
This forager bee’s job is to collect pollen and bring it back to the hive. Without the pollen, the hive’s main food source, the hive and the bees would die. He is literally carrying life back to the hive with every trip.
Today, with all that is going on in our world, much of what is being carried isn’t life. Some are carrying fear, stress, and even death. The Word says, ”Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” Proverbs 18:21. Much of our media, both on television and online social sources, carry death. What is spoken and carried into our hearts and our homes is strife and yes, death to the soul.
But today, on Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate the fact that Jesus is alive! We remember that He isn’t dead and in the grave, He is risen and He is alive. On a day filled with reminders of life, I am reminded to carry life. I want to carry it with my words, whether they are spoken or written. I want to carry life in my actions to all those around me.
Today, let us remember, like the honey bee, to carry life everywhere we go. See the bee doesn’t just carry life back to the hive. With every visit to every bloom, the bee is bringing life to every thing it touches. Cross pollination is what carries on life for flowers and even our fruits and vegetables.
May your Easter today be filled with life. May you be filled with life eternal through His salvation and may you carry that life to all that you come in contact with. What are you carrying? Today, it’s not a basket filled with eggs, but life through Jesus Christ.