The past month and a half, Piper and I have been going on walks in the evening. It has helped give me whatever endurance I can, makes the dog tired, and I think it has allowed my pregnancy to progress nicely. Well, our house sits by an elementary school track with a cow pasture right beside it. As Piper and I walked up to the track tonight, I noticed a mama cow and her calf. The calf couldn't have been more than a couple days old as it was still wobbly on its feet. As the calf got closer to the fence, the mama would nudge it to redirect it towards the rest of the field, steering it in the right direction.
While I watched, my attention was drawn to the transmission tower that runs through the field. On the transmission tower sat probably 30 vultures (no joke). It was honestly a little creepy. The vultures followed the calf with the position of their bodies, while the mama cow walked closely behind the calf. The calf wandered to a wooded area. As soon as that happened, the vultures started to fly down to the wooded area. Over the next couple of minutes, about 15 of them made their way down to the trees or to the ground within 20 feet of the calf.
All the while, the mama cow stood her ground between her baby and the vultures. I watched in amazement as she would turn and charge any vultures that got too close. She wouldn't let them come close to her baby.
That really got me thinking. Vultures to me represent uncleanliness, sin, and death. The entire time Piper and I walked around the track, I thought about how I want to be like that mama cow. I want to steer Henry in the direction he should go: away from danger and towards the safety of the Cross. I want to stand between my Henry and the sin of this world. I want to protect him from evil. I want to show him how to defend himself against what this world and Satan will throw at him, and when he's old enough, to let him fend for himself and rely on what Brett and I have taught him. Just like that mama cow and her baby calf.
Sometimes I still don't feel like a mama, even though I have been carrying this baby for 9 months. But tonight, I felt God placing a maternal instinct for Henry in me for the first time (to be completely honest). It's a good thing too because I think Henry may come before the end of this week. We almost went to the hospital this morning because I was having a lot of contractions, but they weren't regular enough to warrant a trip where they would just send me home.
Keep us in your prayers this week, and in particular, that we would have the wisdom to know if and when to head to the hospital.
Hope you enjoyed my Mother's Day story and the update (where Henry has dropped some more, even if you can't tell). And Happy Mother's Day to all you beautiful mommies out there!
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