There is a funny story that goes with this photo. We were running a race out in Nebraska which was mostly on country roads. As we came up to this herd of cattle, they were all standing around the water. As we got closer, all of them ran away except for this one bull. He looked like he was ready to take us on.

This made me wonder if there is some “alpha dog” equivalent for cattle. Actually, having spent no time on farms, I know very little about cattle. Maybe you are like me and don’t even know the correct terms to use for cattle.

Cow: female that has had at least one calf

Heifer: female that has not had a calf

Bull: mature male used for breeding

Steer: male that has been castrated

And not all males have horns; some females have horns, depending on the breed.

Our minds have an amazing capacity for pattern recognition and we like to assign labels for common patterns. This obviously can be helpful. Unfortunately, we often apply labels to people. These labels can be confusing and sometimes downright hurtful. Here is a good label – children of God.

I was out running a few weeks ago and saw what looked like grass seeds on the trail. I had a couple of thoughts. The first was that it wasn’t likely that grass was going to grow on this path! The second was about the parable of the sower and the seed. I realized that it really isn’t the purpose of a path to grow grass. Obviously, the purpose is to allow us to get from one place to another place.

The common interpretation of the parable is that the path represents those individuals whose hearts are hardened and do not receive God’s word. Just as there is a reason why the path is hardened ground, there is also a recent for a hardened heart. Some may harvest, some may sow seeds, others must till the soil.