By Jennifer Hutchins
Have you heard the saying “The grass is greener on the other side”? It’s something that I was told so many times growing up. Well, we’ve seen it come to life on the farm in the funniest way this year. Our sweet goat family has to be told this over and over. They stand in the fence that protects and keeps them safe staring out at the other side. If I had to put all of their chatter into words I’m pretty sure that they are going on and on about how tasty and green the grass outside the fence is compared to the inside while plotting the next escape plan. If those goats were speaking English instead of goat chatter we’d be laughing all the time.
As we sit and watch it doesn’t take long for them to find a way to escape either over the fence or under it. You don’t even have time to get mad at them before they realize what they’ve done. They are all scrambling around in panic at every noise trying to get back into the safety of their fenced area. Then the real struggle begins because they realize there is no water, the grass lied and they are now in trouble!
We aren’t much different from the goats. We stand tucked so safely in Gods protection in our own yard thinking how great something someone else has is better than what we have. God has to remind me from time to time that all I have belongs to Him because it came from Him. If I would open my eyes to the real truth nothing outside of my safe boundary could compare to what’s in it. Some of it not only for us but our goats as well is that we are rebellious and stubborn just like God’s word says.
Hear this, you foolish and senseless people. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but
they don’t hear. Do you not fear me? This is the LORD’s declaration. Do you not tremble before me, the one who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring barrier that it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot pass over it. But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and have gone away. They have not said to themselves, ‘Let’s fear the LORD our God, who gives the seasonal rains, both autumn and spring, who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest. Jeremiah 5:22-24
I would say our goat family has no fear until they break through the boundary we set before them. Why am I so much like a goat? My fear starts at the point of rebellion. Maybe if it was before I wouldn’t test God’s boundaries for my life. But once again just the way that Jesus draws us back to Himself we walk to the field, open the gate and put all of the goats back safely behind the fence. Pat them on the head with lots of love. All is good on the farm once again.
The LORD is my shepherd I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life, He leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD as long as I live. Psalm 23
March 2024
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