Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Use vs. Value

I read the devotion the other morning in My Utmost for His Highest and my mind keeps going back to a certain thought from it.

"We should quit asking ourselves, 'Am I of any use?'
and accept the truth that we are really not of much use to Him.
The issue is never of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself.
Once we are totally surrendered to God, He will work through us all the time."

How many of us get our feelings of worth from doing? I feel the day has been a success if I can mark off all the things off of my To Do List.

How often does that happen? I mean really. I put so much on that thing that I'll be dead before I'm done! You, too?

So does that mean I am not successful/useful, and if I am not successful am I a failure and therefore worthless? Ah, the endless American striving! The finding of our identity by what we do: I am (was) a teacher. A title, an accomplishment, something we can understand and even value. It's often the first question we ask of a new acquaintance. So, what do you do?

But, what if we would could just totally stop. Not just for our own selves, but for each person with whom we come in contact. Stop and see the VALUE of the person as One He Loves, not for What They Do. What a freeing thought! He does the needed work through us anyway.

*******

On a totally different note, let's talk goats. (See, told you it was different.) I want some, and now is the time of year to start looking and buying. I want them mainly for milk. (Not of course, simply for what they do, smile here in light of the last few paragraphs, but come on, it's a goat.) I like what I've read about Nubians. It is, I am sure, influenced by how darn cute they are as well. Just being honest here.

Most of our neighbors have goats and use (!) them for a variety of purposes: milk, meat, pack animals, lawn mowers, etc. For those of you lovely ladies (and maybe one of the two guys that read this blog) who have goats--please share. What kind do you have? What are the pros and cons of the different breeds you are familiar with? What should I know before I start this? I've read several books, but I want to hear what you think!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can also get information from the county extension office and the Farm Bureau, if that's available.
http://www.extension.uidaho.edu/find.asp

Brenda@CoffeeTeaBooks said...

Do you read Matty's blog? It is called Lazy Bee Farm. She has goats and makes soap with the goat milk. They've also started keeping bees, she sent me some of it and it was YUMMY.

Maura said...

We had nubians and loved them, they are friendly and sweet, and hardy and easy keepers (although a little noisy) and good milk producers. My only advice is to put up a GOOD fence, well secured at the bottom. Ours were masters of escape and would lean against the fence until they tore it off the fence posts, or push their way underneath. (the grass is always greener, you know... ) I finally used cattle panels for their enclosure and that kept them in!

Dee B said...

Thank you for posting this! Every day, I have quite a list of things I need to complete. Many are for my job, and many aren't as urgent as I really think they are, yet they're looming in my brain and I must get them done. Must! ;) At the end of the day, I can look back at the list of checked-off tasks, but have I really done enough? Did I spend enough time with the kids? With my husband? Did I sit down on my porch and enjoy the birds, listen to the rain in the trees or just breathe and relax? Sometimes I totally forget why I moved out here to the country and started this experiment. I need to keep that devotion in mind. (It's a dusty book on my shelf, sadly.) In this day and age, we often see others who appear to be oh so successful, with businesses, book publishing deals and engagements, but when you meet them intimately, you find that it's just a facade; they often have marriage or financial issues, or not enough time with those they love because they're too busy achieving those things that make them feel successful. I'm sure I do it in my own way as well, and I need to be happy with doing what I am doing, and just 'being.' Your blog entry is a reminder to that, and I need to put that on my daily list! ;) Take care. (And I don't have goats -- they were something we were going to do when we moved here, but our current property is probably not the best place, even though we have the room. Maybe someday. I'm making enough homemade yogurt to need a few!)

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