Moosages

"Moooooo!"

• The Pillsbury Dough Girl
  

Moosages

It's the first snowy morning of the season! It's real cold outside with blowing snow. I know it's time to get up and out of bed, but I'm not really feeling it. I don't want to leave the warm comfort of my bed and I definitely don't want to go outside, so I just pull up the covers and close my eyes to savor the comfort. But, my bliss isn't long lived!

A noise begins to tickle my ears. It's faint at first; but it grows in frequency and volume quickly.

"Moo. Mooo. MOOOOO!"

I know what it is immediately. It's a moosage.

The Pillsbury Dough Girl is telling me that it's time for her breakfast. I roll my eyes contemplating my situation. I never dreamed that I'd be taking orders from a fat cow at this stage of my life! But I've learned a lot from the personal moosages delivered by my cow. Today's moosage is about learning to be selfless.

This is a lesson that isn't a very easy lesson to learn for most of us and my experience is that most people can't learn it without making a strong commitment to a personal principle or to someone else. It's that commitment that makes us see beyond ourselves and expand beyond our present capacity. Such stretching doesn't come all at once, it comes a little at a time. It comes mostly because we have no idea of the growth we're about to bring upon ourselves.

After all, when we make the largest commitments in our lives our vision isn't real clear. We're blinded by the fact that, "it's just such a cute little calf and it's so adorable." We know that it will grow in to a huge, hay gobbling cow, but we just can't see it at the time due to the excitement of the moment.

For example, when I purchased this cow I never took the time to consider the genesis of the traditional cow name, "Old Bossy." Oops, I'm sure I have that wrong, I think it's "Old Bessie." But I'm pretty sure I've heard of another cow named "Bossy the Cow." Oh, never mind, you get the point; that's my cow's nick name now.

I hear her calling. I'm not happy about having to go out into the cold. Still, the moosage is clear: next time you find yourself doing something you don't want to do, but you're doing it because of the commitment you've made or because of your love for the other person, know that you're stretching to become a better person as a result. Then, get a little smile on your face knowing that you've got it better than I do. At least you're not being bossed around by a cow!