Wild Hogs
Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving left them thankful!!
In our women’s meetings that we have once a month, Rise Up, we have been examining the Lioness, the Lion, and the pride as a whole. As we have dug into this subject in it’s many facets we have begun to understand the imperative importance of the roles of each and the importance of the pride together!! With this in mind, this little nugget came to life for me so I thought I’d share.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend we had the opportunity to spend time with our beautiful friends from Texas. We always spend a fun-filled, definitely laughter-filled, time chatting and catching up on our families and life. As we talked and caught up something they shared triggered a truth that I think is vital in our walk with God to understand! I’d like to try to paint a picture to help us out today in unfolding this nugget……
Being “Texans” I suppose most people would assume on ranches there would be cows, long horns, etc….and you are right to assume that. They have all of that and then some. But, I’d like to paint a picture for us today to help us in a better understanding of each of us together making up the body of Christ. While we visited with our friends this last weekend, they shared this story. I learned that when you have cattle, etc….. one of the biggest enemies of the herds is the wild hog. Now this amazed me!! First, It just seemed to me like what’s the big deal? What can little pigs do to cause such issues with huge cows, steers, etc? Well, ignorant me, because I had no idea how huge they can get and how they run in large herds, found out real quickly what the big deal really is!! So, these “little pigs”, are not so little after all! They can get up to 600 lbs, and birth 3 times a year…..yea I can hear all the ladies wincing!! Oh! AND each sow will give birth (farrow) to 5-25 piglets in a litter (average is 10-12 so I’ve read) Astounding! Thats a minimum of an average of 30 babies a year girls……Are you kidding me?? Who knew!! Now, don’t make fun of me because I am sure there are plenty of Minnesotans that did not know this either! So not only are they huge….there’s LOTS of them to say the least. Anyway, with that said, they get into the pastures and eat their way through the grass, foliage, and wheat that has been planted. This is a big problem when you have hundreds of cattle to feed!! So, as they continued their story it went something like this….While out on the side by side (fancy name for a cool 4 wheeler), patrolling the pastures for possible invaders, they spotted way out in the distance at one of the fence lines a big black blur at the bottom of the fence line. Taking up the binoculars they saw a long single line of WILD HOGS lined up, 45 of them (yes they counted), all at the same time crawling on their bellies, shimming under the fence to advance to territory that is not theirs! (I will refrain from rabbit trailing on this subject of not allowing the enemy into our camp….maybe that can be the next one…lol). When they told me this…I envisioned these 200-600 lb smelly, snorting, let’s just say it…ugly, animals marching along….together….like a military march across the field. Side by side they took their ground! My first response was…”that’s creepy” and well it is in one sense of the way. But let’s take a look at it from another angle. Let’s look at it as us as the body of Christ, side by side, arm in arm, confident, courageous, LIONESSES AND OUR PRIDE taking our ground! Though this picture is, well, let’s just say not the prettiest picture but it still paints the picture of how we, as the body of Christ, should be working together! There are NO SOLO ACTS!! No individual red-carpet solo stars!!! Jesus is the ONLY one that gets the spotlight…not you…not me!! The bible insists on Christians working together for ONE PURPOSE and one purpose only…… to bring God’s children home to Him!!! The word tells us we must be “in one accord”, to come together as “a three braided cord not easily broken”, that there is only “one body”! I figure if wild hogs, lionesses, and many other animals in God’s kingdom join together…..why can’t we?? Why can’t we be the forces that stand together to make changes and help people actually SEE JESUS?? Aren’t we suppose to be the representatives in the earth on behalf of our savior?? Let’s drop the religious barriers, the subjective elements and join forces for our Father’s sake and all His children….think of it this way….all the people on earth are OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS…let’s not fight against one another…let’s help one another.
