By Gina Caswell Kelly
My day started today with helping to get a cow back into her pen. A lady came to my door early this morning and asked if I knew who had the cows down the road from me, because one of them was out. I did know and I made contact with the owner. The lady told me she was going to stay down there until the owner got there and try to keep the cow off the road.
A couple of things. This was about 7:30 or so this morning. The lady who did not know who owned the cow, had no vested interest in anything to do with the cow, was committed to seeing that the cow was safely inside her pen and that no one coming down the road hit the cow. She was on one side of the cow in her car, just sitting there. I drove down a ways and watched the cow from the other side. Both of us prepared to guide and keep the cow off the road. This was not our cow. This was not our problem. Not this morning! This morning, we owned the cow and were committed to guiding her. We had her calmly in place waiting for the owner to arrive. A few other people showed up and it turned quickly into a circus with pickups and cars bobbing and weaving to try to direct the cow. The owner showed up and just calmly started walking toward her and trying to guide her toward the gate he had opened.
If we had just stayed put and not allowed all the other distractions to start trying to make it into a rodeo, the owner would have been able to calmly walk her in the direction he wanted her to go. She was pretty tame. He told me later, she would actually eat out of your hand. The way the situation developed with all the “help” that showed up, it became much harder than it had to be.
We all need help in our lives to guide us to the correct path. We usually just need gentle guidance from someone who knows the way. I did not know the other lady, but she seemed to be familiar enough with cows to know that you don’t always push. Sometimes you guide. The others who showed up seemed to think pushing was the way to go. In the end, she responded best to the owner who directed her to the gate.
People are best guided with gentle leadership and nudging. It doesn’t need to turn into a circus of pushing and yelling. And, people respond best to the sound of their Master’s voice. This morning, I could hear the owner making the clicking and whistling sounds the cow was used to hearing. She recognized his voice and responded to him.
Be ready to gently guide others when it is needed. People respond best to gentleness, and not harshness and pushing. As you listen to the Master’s voice, guide others to learn to listen, as well. It is the gentle guidance that makes the difference!
