From the Home Place

November 5, 2025

Yesterday I introduced you to my favorite milk cow – Tiny. Tiny was a short-legged Jersey who looked like a Hereford cow. Because she was built so close to the ground, and because she had really short faucets, it was my job to milk her first each morning and evening. All of the rest of our milk cows were Brown Swiss. As such, they were long legged and possessed really big faucets. To me, the main difference between Tiny and the rest of the cows was that Tiny was super easy to get along with, the Brown Swiss cows could be a bit tough to be around at times.

The main reason Tiny stayed around our place was that mom preferred to use Tiny’s milk for cooking. The Brown Swiss cows had too much cream content in their milk, making it more difficult to use for cooking, according to mom.

Besides that, Tiny would let me ride her. We were even at the point where I could steer her with leg pressure, just like a horse. One day when I had a few minutes free, I put a horse halter on Tiny, jumped up on her back and worked her in the round pen, just like riding a green colt. It didn’t take very long before she responded to my leg pressure, and we were soon able to get rid of the halter.

It was plumb fun to walk out to get the milk cows, jump on Tiny and herd the rest of the cows toward the barn. Over the years, we sure did stop a lot of traffic going down our county road! I mean come on, how often do you see a little kid riding a cow, chasing cows. I guess you could say that I was a real “cow-boy!”

Because Tiny was so easy to be around and so easy to work with, besides her milk being “special,” she held a place of honor on our outfit. In 2 Timothy 2:20, Paul states this, “Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.”

You see friends, we are not all “gold and silver vessels,” in fact some of us are just plain ‘ol vessels. Here’s the point Paul was making, it doesn’t matter if you are made of gold or silver of wood or clay, you are honored in God’s kingdom when you live according to His commandments, yet we are dishonored when we allow sinful attitudes to rule our lives.

In verse 19, Paul tells us that all forms of “wickedness” cause defilement. This word “wickedness” implies any kind of injustice but is directly pointed at an attitude of pride. On the other side of this verse, we find that vessels who stay away from such attitudes are considered vessels of honor. and are “useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”(v.21)

I hope that each of us desires to be “useful to the Master.” As such, we must constantly watch our attitude, because a rotten attitude usually leads to rotten actions. Pride makes us unclean, while humility keeps us clean and usable for our Master.

The thing that made Tiny so special was her attitude towards people. She was always calm and pleasant to be around. The Brown Swill cows, who gave more milk by the way, with much richer cream content, were big and pushy. They would just as soon walk over you, rather than around you. They also liked to stick a foot in the milk bucket if given a chance. Oh ya, then there was the green tail across the face trick! The Brown Swiss had plenty of attitude, most of it ornery.

So today’s question, am I a Jersey or a Brown Swiss? They both give milk, but only one is honored. Attitude really does control altitude!

Looking at me, with you, Neal