Faithful in the Little and the Big

For every beast of the forest is mine,

   the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know all the birds of the hills,

   and all that moves in the field is mine. 

Psalm 50:10-11 (ESV)

God has blessed my family to live out our earthly lives as stewards of His land. We get to see the glory of His handiwork each and every day. What we do for a “living” is take care of His living creatures. We’re ranchers.

It isn’t always easy. Many people have the idea that it’s always an idyllic and peaceful lifestyle. There are challenges each and every day just like any other job.

There are often times of extreme fatigue, frustration and endless demands laced with glimpses of God’s glory at exactly the right moment. He’s so good at providing exactly what we need right in the moment when we think we just can’t go on.

There are different seasons of each year that are more labor intensive for us. Some are just tedious and time consuming. Like putting up hay! Other times are fast and furious and it’s all a person can do to keep up with the breakneck pace. Such as calving and lambing.

You can find me many times singing worship songs while pulling a lamb with a leg back in a ewe and five minutes later fighting back screams of frustration over losing one I tried so hard to save.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

I’ve been given dominion over the animals and the earth and I don’t take the responsibility lightly. We make our living raising and selling livestock. It’s our sole source of income. We don’t have any other jobs outside of ranching. This IS our day job. So of course we try to be smart about our “business”. There is more to it than just business for us. God has given us a great responsibility. We started from scratch and tried to be faithful with the few things in our care and rise to the challenge as He has increased those responsibilities.

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' Matthew 25:21 (NIV)

God has called each of us to to be good stewards over what He has entrusted to us, such as our family,  finances, and time. He’s calling us to be faithful in the “little” day to day things as they add up to the “big things”.

I love what I do. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t love everything about ranching but I love that I’ve been entrusted with God’s creation and creatures. It is so exciting to be able to share in my Master’s happiness!

We’re each merely a whisper in time here on this earth. I want to honor God with that time and what He has placed in my care. I, for one, long to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.