Gertrude

Gertrude was not a girl, or a dog, or a cat, or even a gerbil. Gertrude was the name given to a cow by Gary, the farmer who owned her. How did she get a name like that? Well, it wasn’t her full name. She had earned the name Galloping Gertrude, but she was called Gertrude for short. She earned this name because she liked to run! She ran down roads, across fields and over (and sometimes through) fences. She seemed to like running to lots of places where Farmer Gary didn’t want her to go.
Gertrude was only one of many cows that Farmer Gary had on his farm. These cows all had calves each spring. Farmer Gary would keep the calves for a year and then sell them, but he kept the cows. Gertrude had been on the farm for about three years. Each spring she had a new little calf, and she was a good mother. One day it was time for Farmer Gary to move some of the cows with their calves from the barnyard to a pasture across the road. In the confusion of sorting out some of the cows and their calves, Gertrude’s calf was herded off to the pasture, but Gertrude was left behind with the other cows in the barnyard.
For almost two days Gertrude mooed and mooed in the barnyard. She couldn’t find her calf, and she was unhappy about that!
Hearing her mooing and not seeing her calf beside her, Farmer Gary realized what must have happened. He decided to move Gertrude to the pasture across the road to be with her calf again. That day some friends were at his house, and with their help, moving Gertrude should have been easy. There would be four people to direct one cow out the barnyard gate, down the lane, across the gravel road, and through the gate into the pasture where her calf was. They had plenty of time to move her that evening before it got dark.
But Gertrude got in trouble the minute she headed out the barnyard gate. She was supposed to turn right to go down the lane. Farmer Gary was standing on the left side, blocking her from turning that way. Across the lane from the barnyard gate, he had parked his pickup truck to block the opening into another field. Farther down the lane his wife and their friends would direct her across the road and through the pasture gate. All Gertrude had to do was quietly walk out of the barnyard, down the lane, and right into the pasture where her calf was waiting. It should have been easy because everyone was sure Gertrude wanted to find her calf.
But it didn’t happen that way! One thing led to another. First Gertrude ran right around the truck which was supposed to be blocking the opening into the other field. She ran all around that field with Farmer Gary running close behind her, trying to get her headed back to the lane. Then things got worse. Instead of going back through the opening to the lane, Gertrude found a break in the fence which led into a neighbor’s pasture. Running in that pasture, she got into more trouble. She stumbled headfirst into a creek, got up to continue on, breaking through several more fences, and ending up in the neighbor’s barnyard with their cows.
Gertrude had more problems now. Her wanderings had taken her into unfamiliar territory. The cows in the neighbor’s barnyard didn’t like her there and kept butting at her. Finally, she jumped over the fence. Free at last, she may have thought, but she wasn’t! She had jumped out of a cow lot into a pig lot. Gertrude, a clean, beautiful cow, had gotten in with a bunch of dirty pigs.
Farmer Gary was still following her, trying to guide her in the right direction. He patiently tried to direct her out of the pig lot onto the lane again, but Gertrude still wouldn’t cooperate. She jumped another fence, this time back onto Farmer Gary’s farm. She galloped across his field, over another fence, and out onto the lane. She galloped across the road and headed right to the pasture where she was supposed to go in the first place. But instead of going in through the opened gate, she jumped over the fence, breaking it in the process. At last, an hour later, she was in her home pasture with her own calf and friendly cows. But what a path of unhappiness and destruction she left behind — fences to mend, apologies to the neighbors, frustrations and tiredness on everyone’s part — all because she wanted to go her own way.
Boys and girls, do you know that God has only the best plans for you, if you will follow Him? First and most important, He wants to save you from your sins. Even though we are sinners, He has provided a way for each of us to enter heaven. The “gate” of heaven is entered by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, as our own Savior. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)).
After we are saved, He wants to guide us in His good plans for our lives. Often, though, we would rather go our own way, doing what we want to do. If we ask, “How can I know the way the Lord Jesus wants me to go?”, the answer is that it is found in God’s Word, the Bible. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105105NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105)). If we follow the directions that God gives us through the Bible, our path in this world will follow what He has planned for us.
Memory Verse: “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.Jeremiah 29:1111For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. (Jeremiah 29:11)
Messages of God’s Love 6/27/2021