BRRRRRR!

Life on the ranch is a little bit cold at the moment with the temperature reading a negative 13 and the wind blowing at various speeds from 15 - 30 MPH. 

 

We have truly been spoiled for the most part this winter.  On Monday, I walked on green grass around our trees and today I am walking on drifts of snow.

 

We as ranchers know the importance of snow in the winter months, but it does make feeding the livestock a little difficult.  It also makes it difficult for livestock and wildlife although we give them as much protection as possible.

 

Our deer and antelope numbers are down this year due to some harsh spring storms and I am sure the October blizzad that killed so many cows didn't help them at all.

 

Winter is a harsh but beautiful time of year.  The snow will melt in the spring and fill the reservoirs and provide moisture for the soil.  It gives us time to relax, read and work on things we don't have time for the rest of the year.

 

The Time of my Life

Today, I am going to share a few thoughts that I learned from our hunting trip to the Missouri Breaks.

The first thought that came to me while cruising around on the four-wheeler in an area that is bigger than our entire ranch was that I now understood how those South Dakota ranchers felt during the blizzard.  I know that most of South Dakota is not as rugged as the Missouri Breaks, but as I saw yearling cattle spread out all over this ranch, I knew that the rancher would have to take several days to gather them and bring them back home to their winter pasture approximately 20 miles.  The storm was tough on the SD ranchers and they are still dealing with their loss. 

My second thought was that even though I was away from family and friends, memories of them came with me.   First let me paraphrase a few comments because I can’t remember the exact words in each quote.

    1.   It was a successful hunt! I had a great time in the outdoors and came home without the added work of having to gut, skin and process an animal.

   2.    I knew that he had been here before, so I trusted his driving.

     

              3.  It isn’t the kill that makes the hunt successful, it is sharing time with a friend and enjoying the outdoors.

      4. It takes a community to raise a child.

      5.  “You hit it, I’ll git it!”

I have decided that when looking for deer or elk, it does take two drivers.  One to say, “Keep your eyes on the road!”

I did come up with a game plan for the next hunt.  I decided that next time I was going to take a lot of friends on my hunt.  Here is my plan:  KW (She who rides with elk) will bring her horse and ride around each creek bottom. (We watched a hunter do that.)  EW will be available to rope the horns the minute I shoot it so that MS the “You hit it, I’ll git it” man doesn’t have to carry the meat up those steep embankments.

In all seriousness, this was a very successful hunt for me.  Having lived away from the ranch for five years while teaching, I became very depressed my last year away.  I would have an anxiety attack with the first flake of snow that I saw thinking that I would not be able to make it home on the weekend.  I have always liked snow, but I was growing to hate it.  I didn’t want to be snowed out of the ranch and my commitment to my job made me feel obligated to not be snowed in at the ranch. Those feelings do not heal overnight or even in a year’s time.

Last year I did not put in for an elk tag.  I didn’t want to deal with the stress or anxiety.  This year I grudgingly applied telling the lady to make sure that I wasn’t drawn for the Missouri Breaks.  When the tag arrived in the mailed Chip was jubilant and I started to head back toward the edge of the pit of depression. I had decided that this was my last year to even apply for an elk hunt.

The last few months I was becoming agoraphobic to the point that I was going to mention it to my doctor when I go back in for a blood pressure test.  Chip would go to town, I would stay home. I was just happier if I never left the place.

Well, October 24^th arrived and the day was beautiful with a great forecast until Sunday evening.  Chip and I loaded up the camper and headed north.  I remember praying “Lord, please make this hunt easy!’ Then I realized that not everything in life is easy.  Building a relationship with someone is not always easy.  Continuing to build my relationship with God takes work on my part.  He is always there waiting, but I neglect to take time for Him.  So Chip and I discussed that.  It was about a five hour trip and I must admit that I did take a Lorazepam to help me through the day.  We reached our normal camp sight and set up camp.  (I needed some comfort zone.) We unloaded the four-wheeler and decided to look around for elk.

I had the time of my life.  (I do have to say that the 215+ miles that I walked around our deck since February sure helped me on this trip.) We walked over to a neat place where we could sit and just look for miles and miles. We walked up and down hills and the thought I had was now that I have a Garmin wristband, I need to walk up the hill to get our mail and then back home to prepare myself for the next hunt.

On Friday we took the four-wheeler and went west, then south and then we took the pickup and went into town for an appointment.  It was cancelled because the lady called in sick. So I said hello to one of my past students and we went back out to the campsite.  We sat by the camper and watched headlights coming toward us from all directions.

The only time that I was stressed was when I thought that I had to kill an elk.  I had a coveted tag, one that many people have put in for for years and have not been drawn.  I had received my second chance.  Then I would remember that I was having a successful hunt because I was truly enjoying myself with my husband. “It isn’t the kill that makes the hunt successful.”  I am planning on putting in again for an elk tag just so that I can spend time in that area again. The good news is that I can go with Chip on his archery hunt and I won’t even have to think about killing an elk.

I have learned to like snow again.  I have enjoyed being snowed in a few times on the ranch already this year.  Am I ready to be mudded in or snowed in up in the Missouri Breaks?  Probably not for more than a day or possibly two.  Besides, it was a little chilly up there between 5 A.M to 8 A.M.

The best times of the hunt were the discussions with my husband, the four-wheeler rides and enjoying all of God’s creations.

 

 

 

 



Memories of Bozette

Bozette

Spring of 2001

Springtime brings calving and lambing which is a real neat time. I love seeing all the little animals running around the ranch.  This year I ended up with a bum calf.  I didn’t pay much attention to it in the beginning.  I fed it and talked to it.  I thought that it was kind of dumb.  I called “him” Bozo.  After a few days, I decided that I should find out if it was a male or a female.  (My male bums go to market or in the freezer after they grow up, but the females I get to keep.)  I found out that Bozo was a Bozette.  She was not a healthy calf in the beginning.  In fact, we almost lost her. We called the vet, he gave us some ideas and now she is about 400 pounds.  She comes to the house for her bottle and then goes back to the shed.  Chip gives her the bottle and lets her chase it around the yard.  Unfortunately, Bozette hasn’t learned to bring it back yet.  Last night, I saw her coming to the yard. I ignored her and went downstairs to sew. In a while she was down at the basement window grazing.  After it was quite dark outside (Chip was at a sale) I heard this bawl.  After my heart stopped pounding, I shut off all the lights and turned on the yard light.  She was standing at the door with a sad look on her face waiting.  I finished what I was doing and went upstairs.  It didn’t take her long to come up to the kitchen door and start begging.  Since I didn’t know where she had left the bottle, I gave her the milk in an ice cream bucket.  She finally figured out that that was some pretty good stuff, but she still wanted her bottle.  She is quite spoiled!  We do need to wean her but…..

Bozette became very good at coming up to the house, butting her head on the side of the house to let me know that she wanted her bottle. After she drank her bottle, she would walk out of the yard and go back to grazing.  She drank from a bottle far longer than she should have.

One time while feeding her a bottle, she inhaled and the milk went down the wrong tube.  She did some swaying back and forth, but finally came out of the situation without going down on me.  I was a tad bit nervous.

June is always branding time.  I remember the year we put Chip’s brand R/D on Bozette.  She sulked for days and would have nothing to do with us.  It broke my heart as I laughed at her attitude.

Actually, I remember several times when she gave us that sulking attitude—the one that said, “I really am not a cow so please treat me more respectfully like a person.”

As I went through 10 years of Life on the Ranch notes, I realized that the fun stories of Bozette were in the first two years of her life.  I didn’t start saving my emails until 2003.

October 25, 2003

We did preg testing yesterday.  Yes, Bozette is to be a mother in April.  That is good!  With cattle prices the way they are, I don’t think I could have justified keeping her around another year if she wasn’t going to calve.

December 28, 2003

Chip and I went out to cake the cows the other day.  I called Bozette and she came up from the back of the group.  The next day I couldn’t find her.  I called and called.  Chip said, “Dru” and pointed at this cow by the back of the pickup.  Bozette was too busy eating cake out of the pickup to pay any attention to me.

February 29, 2004

Last night Chip went out and brought the sheep in and the cows followed. A couple of hours later Chip went back outside!  There were about thirty head of cows in the yard.  He said that they acted like little kids who had been caught doing something wrong.  They just frolicked out of the yard with grins on their faces.  That is all but one.  You guessed it!  Bozette thinks she owns the yard.  Chip went out to her and started petting her and talking to her.  He asked her if she was pregnant and ---she turned her head and gave him a great big, sloppy kiss with her tongue.  Later that night, I gave Chip a kiss on his cheek when I remembered Bozette.  I asked him if he had washed his face.  He said “No!”  He is a Montana rancher; your guess is as good as mine!

March 27, 2004

Bozette came wandering in yesterday.  Chip said that he set a trap for her.  She is now in the corral in front of the house so that we can watch her.  Yes, we will soon have a grand calf and Chip knows that this one has to live.  After the storm we heard her moo.  Believe it or not, Chip put on his shoes, grabbed a flashlight and went to check on her.

April 2, 2004

Just to let you all know that Bozette is the proud mother of a baby girl calf born on my mother’s birthday (today).  We can hear her talking to her calf constantly.  Yes, I have taken pictures.

Chip had an easy time pulling the calf.  He just walked up behind Bozette and pulled the calf.  The calf is all black.  I need ideas for names.  She may be a keeper as I’m sure she will be quite tame.

April 4, 2004

Watching Bozette and Rozette is a lot of fun.  Bozette is the typical new mother who is very protective of her child.  Rozette didn’t mind for the first 12 hours, but now she wants to be where the action is.  (They grow up so fast!) The action is right next to the hay feeder where she can get stepped on.  Bozette doesn’t like that at all.  The only thing that distracts Boze from Roze is cake.  Boze went running for it.  When Rozette found out she was alone, she went nuts and set up a howl.  Bozette went running back to see what the problem was but didn’t get too concerned when she saw us.  They are like a three-ring circus and they keep all three rings full at about the same time.

September 19, 2004

Bozette and Rozette were in the driveway to say good-bye to me on Tuesday.  Bozette knew that I didn’t have any cake to give her so she wasn’t real excited about seeing me.

November 28, 2004

I went with Chip to feed the calves this morning.  Tarzan was right there waiting for his more than fair share.  Rozette wasn’t too far behind.  Chip started the tractor and it wasn’t long before the cows headed our way.  You guessed it!  Bozette was the first in line. She came up to me and then to Chip wanting to know where her cake was.  They will all be down at the ranch within a couple of days as we left all of the gates open.  Chip vaccinated the calves yesterday as Floppy was looking a little ill.  Rozette didn’t appreciate the shot, but I guess she got over it.

December 26, 2004

Last Wednesday, I heard a cow in the yard.  I looked out to see a black cow by the corral gate looking at the water tank. I opened the door and said, “Bozette, is that you?”  She turned around and plodded over to the door.  She had one foot on the step when I decided that she was thinking about coming in for a visit.  I closed the door and she went another direction.  I am not afraid of her; I just respect her size and the fact that she doesn’t understand English all that well.

January 10, 2005

My sister sent a Santa hat for Bozette.  I tried to put it on her.  She would have nothing to do with it.  She didn’t like the elastic going around her neck.  She threw it off and all the other cows took a couple of steps away from it.  We quit before she got mad at us.  Chip said that Bozette is big enough to hurt us if she started to fight us.  I didn’t want to get her into that habit.

January 30^, 2006

Chip went over to feed this morning and I told him to bring back a real good story.  Bozette, Rozette and Big Red along with the rest of the cows have been wintering over across the road where we do our branding.  They should be back here to harass us next week, which means that I will have frozen cow pies to drive over every morning.  The little babies will be arriving in April.  Bozette will be having her third calf and Rozette will be having her first one.  They look about alike and definitely act alike.  Totally Spoiled!

February 2, 2006

Comparing Bozette to a soap opera:

The Bold and Beautiful:  I guess Bozette fits this category.  She is definitely bold when it comes to pushing her way into the middle of food.  Beautiful---For a cow, she is beautiful with a very spoiled personality.  She is also beautiful to me because she helps line my pocket book with cash.

April 2, 2006

(The second birthday of Rozette)

Bozette is a Grandma!  Rozette is a Mom.  Beautiful black calf!  We haven’t checked the gender.  We woke up to a pile of snow, which is almost gone at the moment.  Rozette went into the shed to have her calf.  Smart Cow!

April 3, 2006

Bozette is a mom again.  Rozette has another sibling.  Once again, we haven’t checked the gender.  All four are doing well.

May 21, 2006

Yesterday, I helped Chip feed which means that I drive.  We got to the center location of the cows and I stopped.  Just that quick I had a black cow at my window.  You guessed it, it was Bozette.  Then Chip said, “Well, Well who do we have here?” You are right again, it was Rozette at his window.

October 7, 2006

Thursday was a very foggy morning, but we went out to get the sheep in anyway.  They were a little difficult to find in the fog, but we managed.  Chip had the blue pickup and I had the red one. Things were going really well until all of a sudden I heard a bellow and looked behind me to see a cow charging after me.  I said to myself, “Bozette, is that you?” Her just as spoiled daughter, Rozette, quickly caught up to me and I quickly rolled up my window so that I didn’t have her head joining mine.  Getting kissed by a cow has never been one of my lifetime dreams.  I thought that she might want to help bring the sheep in, but she was definitely telling me that she hadn’t had any cake in a very long time and she wanted to know when she was going to get some.

October 30, 2006

We did preg testing this past week and Bozette and Rozette are still in the running.

April 10, 2007

Just to let you all know that Bozette gave birth to a black heifer this morning.  She was born with a pink ear tag in her ear.  Chip said that Bozette was out on the feed ground this morning when he brought the cows the hay.  All of a sudden she put up her tail and took off.  Those labor pains must come quickly for some of those cows.  No name has been picked at this point.

April 11, 2007

Bozette has come in a couple of times for cake or hay but she hasn’t brought her calf with her.  Just to let you know that Bozette is not a spring chicken or in this case a spring cow anymore.  She is now 6 years old, is starting to get old and won’t be with us forever. I am just warning you all that someday we will all mourn the loss of Bozette, but I am sure that she is a cow that will go down in history, at least the history of the ranch second only to big Red.  We still have a few years to enjoy her personality though.

November 11, 2007

Yesterday, we left the gate open to the hay bales while we were hunting.  When we came back the cows were in the field.  I got out of the pickup and Chip zipped around them.  I went to shoo one cow away from the bale.  She just kept circling the bale.  When I caught a glimpse of#55 on her ear tag, I knew what the problem was.  Bozette, the spoiled old thing, doesn’t think she has to live by the rules!

April 21, 2012

Chip came in from feeding hay and asked for my help.  He told me that Bozette had calved but he didn’t think the calf had sucked.  She gets really big teats, which is caused by having too much mild.  The calf can’t get her mouth around it.  Chip decided to give them time.

We decided to head to Miles City and give Bozette time.

We came back home and had to deal with Bozette.  She is as spoiled and crazy as ever. We put her calf in the back of the pickup and she followed us to the house. Chip was going to lure her out of the pasture with cake, but then he remembered #122 and stuck to the pickup idea. We got to one gate that I couldn’t open so I held the rope that held the calf when Jake decided to make an appearance.  Bozette let him know what she thought of that idea and put him back in the pickup.  I was standing by the pickup when she stampeded by me.

Chip was going to put her in the squeeze chute when he saw that it needed to be welded.  I picked it up with the tractor and we took it to the shop.  He welded it and drove it back.  We finally had it ready for Bozette just as it was getting dark.  We put her in the squeeze chute. This is the only cow that can be lured into the chute with cake. I was feeding her cake and Chip was milking her. All was going well until she lay down and wouldn’t or couldn’t get up.  Finally Chip loosened everything up and we took her into the shed as it began to rain.  I fed her cake while Chip got the calf to suck.

Bozette is 11 years old this year.  I don’t think she has too many teeth any more as I didn’t get bit, just gummed. She eats like a pig when it comes to cake.  She shouldn’t have it as it gives her more milk.

It is now 10 pm. The bums have been fed and Bozette and calf are locked up for the night.

March 30, 2013

Wednesday was an exciting day for me.  Chip’s first words as he looked out the kitchen window were “I think Bozette might calve today.”  That is all I needed to get my jacket and camera and head outside.  I took lots of pictures, a video, and put a mile on my Nike wristband waiting for the calf to be born.  The calf now wears a pink ear tag with the #55 in it. (Bozette, Rozette and ? all wear 55 tags.  Chip likes to humor me!) 

We are about half way finished with calving.  Chip stayed home from church last Sunday to babysit the heifers as it was a chilly day.  He almost messed up!  He watched Dr. Jeremiah and Dr. Stanley on T.V. before going out to check the heifers.  He found one chilled down and brought it in the house to warm it up.  Chip said that there was something wrong with the bones or joints so it took longer than normal to stand up.  Also a heifer isn’t always “Johnny on the spot” to start licking her calf to encourage it to get up.  I watched a brand new calf yesterday from the window and it seemed like forever before it even tried to stand up.  Bozette had her calf up in a few minutes.

The new mamas and their calves are out in the shelterbelt for now.  As I look out the kitchen window, every once in a while I can see a streak of black or two streaks of black run by the gate.  Calves are so cute to watch as they play with each other.

October 15, 2013

After the second snow of the season, we let the cows and sheep out of the shelter belt.  At the same time, Chip noticed Bozette coming down the lane to the gate.  He let her in the corral and put her in the horse barn.  He said that she was in very poor shape.

I went out to see her and talk to her.  I really feel that she had come home to die.  She lived in the horse barn when I first started to bottle feed her, almost died in the corral when she was a few months old, had given birth to several calves in that corral, and she knew that we would be there doing what we could to help her.

Chip and I handled her imminent death in different ways.  He did everything he could for her to bring her back on her feet including putting a blanket over her.  I spent two days crying for her, petting her and talking to her.  I am thankful that she came home to gracefully die.

 

 

Down Memory Lane

Terraville

This past Sunday, with my husband by my side, I mustered up my courage and we headed to the Terraville Reunion in Deadwood.  I had not seen the majority of these people since 1967 when we moved to Nevada Gulch just outside of Lead, SD.   Some of them had moved out of town before we did and then there were those who lived there before or after we did. It was not that I was afraid to meet these people; it was that sometimes I just don’t know what to talk about.

I found this reunion to be very exciting.  We all had one thing in common and that was Terraville.  One lady, who lived there before my family did, told me where she lived.  It took a minute for it to register and I said, “That is where I lived!” I am a little slow these days and I finally figured out that she lived there before we did, because I knew that no one lived there after we did.  We not only had the town and the house in common, we both remembered wonderful Christmases with the bay window.  (I came home and asked Chip if we could have a bay window!) We both had 4 siblings and remembered the yard and the outhouse.  Thankfully, we had indoor plumbing when we lived there. I asked her if she had left a poster behind called “Pharaoh’s Horses” and she did not remember it.  My brother and sister very carefully took the poster off the wall when Dad tore the house down.  I still have it!  Guess I will have to take it to the next reunion, which just may be where Terraville was located.

Special thanks go to Melody Shoop Helsing for preserving the history in photos and newspaper articles, and for the yearly planning of the reunion.

Someday there will be a reunion in Heaven. Thankfully, I don’t have to muster up courage to go there since I don’t know the day of my passing.  There will be a lot of people there that I haven’t met, but we will all have one thing in common and that is Jesus. I am sure that we will share our testimonies of how we came to know Christ as personal Savior and how He led us daily in our Christian lives.    We will have so much to talk about with all the saints of the past.

I am sure that many plans have been made for that special reunion in Heaven when “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words. ( I Thessalonians 4:16-18) 

Tears

Tears seem to be something that we all dread.  I, for one, hate tears, but I have an overabundance of them.   Do we dread them because they are there due to pain or that they make us appear weak?  I believe that tears are an unspoken language that the whole world can understand.  We understand tears by the actions of the person before the tears begin.

When a person laughs so hard that they cry, we know that the person thought something was funny.  If a person hits his thumb with a hammer and cries, we know that it was a very painful hit.  If a person hears sad news and the tears flow down his face, we know that the person is sad.  If we attend a funeral and do not know what words to say, a hand clasp, a hug and tears tell the person that we grieve with him or her.

So for those of us, who seem to have an abundance of emotions shown by tears, please don’t dread them.  God made us that way and tears can say just the right “words” to the person who sees them and wants to understand them.

Life on the Ranch

Two weeks ago I was barely able to walk into my chiropractor’s office.  I was in very bad shape and a lot of pain.  I was given strict orders to stretch and to lose weight.  Hmmm! Both are a tough assignment to do, but I am now able to touch my toes again.  The back is feeling a lot better, but does not do well sitting in a car.

Branding and docking started on June 15^th with the arrival of my sister Sharie and her friends Carl and Jackie.  Sharie, Carl and Jackie spent Sunday in Deadwood visiting with friends and attending church at the First Baptist Church in Deadwood.  This is the church that she attended when she was a year old.  From there she celebrated her birthday with our friends Harold and Marge.  Thank you H & M as all she got from me was “Happy Birthday” and that might have been a day early.

We spent the week preparing for Branding and Docking (B&D).  Carl mowed our lawn and Sharie and Jackie did the cooking.  Every time I walked into the kitchen, Sharie would kick me out.  I did notice that Carl did wash a lot of dishes during that time.  A big thank you goes to all three of you for your help.

The Minnesota group arrived on Thursday this year.  That made for a relaxing day of resting and visiting.  They set up panels for the branding and had things ready to go for Saturday.  One by one people started arriving and all were here by Thursday night.  We were truly blessed to have Tya with us this year.  She was a foreign exchange student from Indonesia.

Friday everyone was up early for the docking and all went well.  That night a new game was introduced to everyone called “Spoons”.  From what I hear, that was a good time had by all. I do know that if a person was looking for a quiet place, that building was not the place to go.

Rain!  It rained Friday night, but we were still able to brand on Saturday morning.  We started breakfast early so that we could get the day’s work finished before the Peterson side of the family left for the wedding.  Thank you all for getting the job done.  Then it rained again!

The Wedding!  It was probably the shortest wedding I have ever attended, but thankfully someone was listening to the weather forecast.  The wedding started at 3:56 (my watch, my story) and was finished by about 7 minutes after four. (I didn’t look at my watch.)  We were down in our vehicles and headed for the reception when the rain and hail hit.  I must have been in the right part of town as less than 20 hailstones hit our vehicle.  There were those who were less fortunate and now will be purchasing new windshields and probably fixing dents in their cars.  I have learned to think that hail damage happens so that I don’t get all bent out of shape on the little things that happen to my car. Living on the ranch allows for all kinds of little things to happen.

Sunday, we watched Angela and Mike open their wedding presents and then had a great time with family.

On Tuesday, Chip took Jo and Lizzie to a branding way back yonder.  They came home tired but excited. (At least Lizzie was excited)  I spent the day trying to figure out if our water softener was working or not.  Then I washed sheets and made a few more beds.  I did rest a lot as well.

It is now Wednesday and I am starting to feel like a human again even with a sore throat.
So once again, thanks to all that made our 10^th Branding and Docking a real success.

I did find a pair of sun glasses, but can’t remember who lost them.

 

 

New Life

Spring is a time of new life. A time when ranchers anticipate the new arrivals of calves and lambs.  It is a time when there is hope for the future.  As we look at the cute babies, we know that they will grow up and eventually sell.  They represent food on the table, wool for clothing and leather for gloves or chaps.  They represent a paycheck for the rancher.

Spring is the time of year where new kittens arrive.  They too are very cute, but have a special job on the ranch of getting rid of mice and moles.  I must admit that my cats spend more time begging for a free handout.

This spring we have not received the moisture that is so much needed to raise the babies to market weight.  The fish have died in many ponds, the geese are inhabiting the area, making a mess of the water and the water has gone bad.

Zechariah 10:1 says "Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field."

 

 

Ranchers are already taking weigh up cows to market.  Every cow that is not producing or has lost a calf is not worth keeping around.  Without rain, more cows and calves will be headed to market causing the rancher to change their operation.

 

 

Please pray that we will get rain to bring new life to the grass in the fields.

Happy New Years

January 1, 2013

As another new year begins, my thoughts turn to both the past and the future. 

I look at 2012 and can honestly say that I don’t remember a lot about it.  I know that it was a very difficult year for me, but at the same time it was a year of learning.  Without experiencing 2012, I would never have been able to understand people who suffer from depression.  Without going into detail, I will just say that it is not a fun thing to experience.  The person who experiences depression cannot control those feelings, they are not trying to get out of something or trying to get attention, and they are not out of “God’s Will”.  I also attended a record number of funerals in 2012.  I have learned that everyone honors their loved one in their own way.

 In my brother-in-law’s testimony he asked the question, “What is success?”  He gave a lot of examples and ended by saying that success to him was standing before Jesus and having Him say, “Well done, Soldier; you may now enter the gates of Heaven.”

I have given that a lot of thought this past week after attending his funeral.  Success here on earth is so different to everyone.  I have a brother who is very successful in his job, a job that I don’t totally understand.  Another brother is very successful in his grocery store—I understand that one a little better.  My husband would not do well in either of those businesses, but he does run what I consider a successful ranch.  My two brothers wouldn’t know where to start in the ranching business.  So with that in mind, I question myself with “Am I justified in calling someone a loser.”   Wow! Even after what I have seen in the past week, I would still have to say “No!” Since God created all of us, I can’t believe that he created any losers.  But…. there are those who are walking down a losing path.  There are those who are not making right choices.  No matter how wealthy a person is, without Christ that person will lose in the end.  No matter how poor a person is, if that person gives their life to Christ they will win in the end.  As a friend of mine said, “It is the eternal that counts.”

Today, I read the Jan 1 devotion in Henry and Richard Blackabys’  1997 book Experiencing God Day-By-Day.  Its title is “Resolutions.”  (How appropriate for January 1^st.)  They used the scripture reference John 21:16 that says “So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”  Please remember how Peter had messed up by fleeing from the garden when Jesus needed him and later by denying Christ three times.  The devotion goes on to say that “Jesus has a wonderful way of restoring us when we fail Him!  He does not humiliate us.  He does not criticize us. He does not ask us to make a resolution to try harder.  Rather, He takes us aside and asks us to reaffirm our love for Him.” Peter seriously failed Jesus a couple of times, yet Jesus asked for his love.

 I know that I have seriously failed Jesus so many times in the past, yet He will not humiliate me, He just wants me to tell Him that I love Him.

“Jesus does not need your (my) resolution, your (my) recommitments, or your (my) promises to try harder this year.  If your (my) resolve to obey God last year did not help you (me) to be faithful, it will not make you (me) successful this year.  Jesus asks for your (my) love.  If you (I) truly love Him, your (my) service for Him in the New Year will be of the quality that He desires.”

I usually don’t make New Year Resolutions so I won’t start this year, but it is my desire to Love Jesus with my whole heart. That our ranch will be used for His honor and glory.  I know that I have a lot of changing to do and it should start with loving Jesus more.