When our kids were young, we started a super fun Christmas card tradition. We began taking silly family photos, and sometimes that picture was accompanied by a semi-clever saying.
The year we moved to a suburb of the Los Angeles area that was known for its dairy farms, I thought it would be funny to make fun of the fact that we fought flies all summer long and if the wind blew the wrong direction when it rained, it smelled like you were in the middle of a manure field! This year I decided to have everyone grab something to symbolize where they spent most of their time. We dressed up in our ‘good clothes’, loaded up our props, grabbed our Santa hats and sunglasses, and headed out. I had called a local farmer and asked him if we could take a picture with his dairy cows in the background. We met the farmer and he took us where he was feeding the cattle. I set up my camera on a tripod, and we stood on the other side of the fence while the hungry cows ignored us taking family photos. The old farmer looked at us, shook his head, and said ‘I have a much better idea’. In his gruff voice, with a piece of hay sticking out of his mouth, he instructed us to stand by a few bales of hay. We were his guests, so we did exactly as we were told. We gathered up the camera, tripod, and our props, and headed to the haystack. While we were waiting for the farmer, we set ourselves up to shoot a few more photos for fun. Our son grabbed his basketball and climbed on top of a few bales of hay. Our daughter wanted to show off her cute outfit, so she held her ‘boombox’ while standing off to the side. My husband grabbed his briefcase and stood far from the hay, not to get any on his one and only suit, while I grabbed my paint pallet and paint brush in my best dress and high heels and stumbled over to the group while my heels dug into the mud. After a couple silly-faced pictures, we saw the farmer headed our way with something in his arms. This old farmer plopped a brand new calf in the hay on the ground in front of us! The farmer then grabbed the camera and proceeded to take a few dozen pictures of us. As he picked up the calf, he proceeded to explain that he had taken so long to come back because he was waiting for that calf to be born, so we could have great Christmas card! As we admired the cute little baby, it was only then that we noticed that the calf still had a little afterbirth on his back legs. That old farmer was so kind, and he certainly did not need to go out of his way to bring us one of his prize possessions that had just entered the world. I must say, that has been one of the most iconic and favorite Christmas cards we have done.
We not only were blessed that day by a generous old man in overalls, but we were able to teach our children a practical lesson. Sometimes when we ask for something, we not only get what we ask for, but so much more! So many times this is what happens when we ask God for something. He not only takes care of our needs, but He blesses us in ways we never imagined. Some of those blessings are huge and some are small, like a little calf that made our ‘Mooy Christmas Card’ even more special as we sent love and updates to all your friends and family.
“God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done.” 2 Corinthians 9:8
‘Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalms 37:4
That year, everyone teased us so bad for moving to a tract home in the middle of a smelly cow pasture. This amazing farmer helped us laugh at ourselves, get others to laugh with us not at us, and finally, if you love Jesus, live like you should, things work out better than you can imagine.