I made the mistake of sharing this experience in Relief Society. (We were having a lesson on how service blesses us). Then I got a call asking if I would write it up for some book the Stake is doing. So I did that and now I'm going to record it here so I can throw away my paper copy!
"This year for Christmas, our family was looking for someone to help. We thought and looked, but just didn't find anything. A neighbor called and asked if we'd take care of his livestock while he was gone for Christmas. I said yes, and didn't think much more about it.
The first morning we went over, my boys were not happy about it. They didn't want to wake up early and do chores while they were on break. I wasn't so thrilled myself! They got more and more unhappy as they went through the stalls taking care of the animals. One of the goats was sick and shivering violently. She wouldn't eat the hay we offered. I couldn't blame her. It was old, gray and dusty. None of the animals had bedding in their stalls. The boys were concerned because it was going to be below zero that night. The calves needed bedding too, and the milk cow was very weak. The calves had been left on her and had cut her teats up and banged her up pretty good. She gave almost no milk.
When we got done and climbed back in the truck, I had an idea. I told the boys we were looking for something nice to do this Christmas. We had just been presented with the perfect gift. We could take care of the animals better than we would take care of our own and help the owners out while they were gone. The boys immediately jumped on board, and started talking about how many bales of hay and straw they could fit in the back of the truck. We drove straight to the feed store and bought 100# of grain, 50# of pig feed, and a salt block for the sick goat. The boys came home and loaded up the hay and straw.
That night we took our loot over to the neighbors. We broke a bale of straw in each stall, saving one of the bales which had good hay mixed with it for the pigs so they could nose through it looking for treats. Then we gave the milking animals some good third crop alfalfa. We also gave them a little grain. We sprinkled grain for the pigs in their straw too. Then we just stood back and watched. It was so fun to see them enjoying their Christmas time feast.
The next day the cow gave more milk. Each day she upped her production. The pigs lapped up all the extra milk, and the sick goat stopped shivering and started eating. Each day while the boys did the chores I swept the hallway outside the stalls. We added all the waste hay as bedding for the animals.
Chore time became one of the best times of the day. It was a great feeling for me to take care of the animals, talking and laughing with my boys the whole time, and then to go out into a beautiful clear night, and know that I'd done one small thing right.
My grandpa used to say that you can't give yourself poor to the Lord. That's true with service also. You always get back more than you give."
1 comment:
This is an excellent post. Perhaps your writing future lies in the inspirational field. There's already been a christmas box and a christmas sweater. Hmmm. The christmas straw bale? How the salt block saved christmas? ;) I'm kind of sorry I missed out on this.
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