I grew up loving animals and wanting to be a veterinarian. When I was finally old enough to be in 4-H my dad and I went to a meeting. As we were walking out the door of the house that evening, my mom was saying, “Do not sign up for anything!”
Well, somewhere in those next few hours I’m not sure what happened. I not only joined 4-H, but Dad had signed me up to show a lamb in the upcoming January show. This began a whole new life for me. There was much I had to learn about being responsible for large animals, as well as raising, feeding, and showing this lamb, Suzy Q. Cute name, right?
I hate to admit it, but Suzy Q soon became a chore. Feed. Water. Exercise. Feed. Water. Feed. Feed. Feed.
On those freezing cold mornings when it was drizzling rain I seriously could have cared-less if this cute lamb got exercise, much less food. Confession time, there were even some mornings when I just didn’t feed her. My bad! Please don’t report me, because I did feel guilty all day at school afterwards.
Although I loved Suzy Q there were days I could have done without her and all the responsibility that came along with her. I seriously would have been fine, going back to my way of life before I joined 4-H. But somewhere deep down, I had such a passion for animals that I knew I had to learn what it took to raise champions. And that I did for the next 10 years, even progressed to showing champion steers and bulls.
Recently, my mind has been wandering back to those animals that I loved and despised all at the same time. I’m continually reminded of what a chore it was to feed, water, exercise, and feed, feed, feed them when all I wanted to do was live a “normal” life like most of my friends.
I’m learning new lessons on “feeding sheep”, as John 21 has been very much at the forefront of my thoughts lately. When Jesus asks Peter three separate times, “Do you love me?” He also responds to Peter’s “yes”, by saying “Feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep. Feed my sheep.”
For more on what I’m learning, sign up for my newsletter before next Monday. (It’s the brown box on the right hand side of this blog.) The rest of the story will come out in next week’s monthly newsletter.
Until then, does anyone have any stories they’d like to share on the lessons they learned from 4-H?
Loved hearing about your sheep-raising experiences! Now I have a whole 'nother diminsion of you ! :)
I was not part of 4H so I have no lessons to share. Can't wait to hear 'the rest of the story'.
Leah
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I loved your lesson with the sheep, but I did not take 4H to have lessons?? We do find those lessons with life
Great way to tie in Peter.
My only 4-H experience was cooking. But I loved that!
I have 14 years of 4-H stories !
I put my children in it.
I think I can sum up all years by saying," If you will but feed and care for the sheep,I know for a fact that when you stand before the Judge; He will find favor with you."
The following is my all time favorite.
We had 5 children participating in the 4-H show. The children raised mainly poultry.
It was the morning of the show….we went into the chicken pen to check on the birds. They all had to be USDA grade quality which meant,no bruises on the meat. The kids were showing broilers that consist of a pen of 3 matching birds. These birds are fed such a high protein diet that they bruise very easily and it was necessary to check them for such before loading them up into the carriers. One by one as we checked birds,we were disappointed to find birds bruised from the selection process the day before. THey would be disqualified so we had to pen all the birds again. Mind you this process usually takes me hours to do as we had many birds to go through.
Time was running out on us. I did not have time to do this and furthermore all our best birds were bruised. I did the best I could and we raced over to the show grounds. I say raced but it seemed like a slow crawl as it was pouring down rain like crazy and it was a thirty minute drive. We were so afraid of missing the cut off for check in. Time was ticking by. We did not know if we could make it in time. Even if we did, we still had all those birds to get out of the vehicles and in front of the judge. Giving up was never an option. Five minutes was all we had left as we pulled into the parking lot of the show grounds. We parked our cars and rushed out to start unloading those birds with the hopes of getting at least a few of them to the right place before deadline. All of a sudden I looked up to see a crowd of people rushing out to our cars. Family and friends,all competition came out to grab the chicken carriers and then ran them into the building and put them before the judge. I cry today just thinking about the love and unselfishness of those people. We were big competition,we were the people to beat and they ran out to help us. I am amazed. We took top honors that day. We had not only the Grand champion and Reserve Champion Birds but more importantly Grand Champion family and friends.
Lesson learned is never give up even when you don't think you'll make it. Continue to do your best and you will be rewarded. Things get tough at times but look up, God will amaze you too.
Anonymous – Love your 4-H story. Thanks for sharing! Great story, by the way.