Farmhouse Retreat by Terri Kraus & Renee Baker

Author:Terri Kraus & Renee Baker [Kraus, Terri & Baker, Renee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RELIGION / Christian Living / Devotional, RELIGION / Devotional
ISBN: 9781496449283
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Published: 2021-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

Think about ways you allow your imperfect past to affect your present. Confess them to God, and write a prayer expressing the specific ways you need his help each new day.

Ulysses

ONE FALL DAY, just after Thanksgiving, a lone rooster showed up at Fodderstack Farm. Where he came from was a mystery. What was his story? Did he escape from another farm? Was he lost? Just passing through? The Bakers were leery about his presence, worried he would cause trouble since some roosters are naturally aggressive and will attack humans. Even very gentle breeds can become feisty, and that’s why they’d never had a rooster on their farm. They didn’t trust him and hoped he was on a journey to somewhere else.

But he stayed on, and they named him Ulysses. It turns out that, surprisingly, he has been a very good rooster. He enthusiastically flaps his wings when he sees a hawk, protecting “his” hens. Ulysses has never exhibited any aggression toward people, and his daily crowing has added to the ambience of the farm. His iridescent feathers shine like jewels in the sun; the beauty of his bright coloring is a delight to the eye.

There’s a lesson here for us as humans. How often, when experiencing the presence of someone who is very different from us, do we react with distrust and suspicion? We may jump to stereotyping people because of the way they look, the color of their skin, the way they dress, their foreign language, or their political views. We allow ourselves to put people into categories based on incorrect information we have gathered about “their kind,” perhaps based on our upbringing or a former perception or experience. What rises to the surface is fear rather than the desire to connect. Yet welcoming a stranger is a repeated theme in the Bible, as these passages show:

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!

HEBREWS 13:1-2

Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.

ROMANS 15:7

We must remember that everyone has a story. Listening to others talk about their journeys goes a long way to understanding them, which erases our fears about them. How often have we missed the blessing of having a relationship with someone who is not like us, whose beautiful soul could have greatly enriched our lives—all for the glory of God?

Ulysses’s appearance on the farm at first caused distrust, suspicion, and fear, but his presence has brought nothing but good things. Even he has a story. We will never know what it is, but it undoubtedly includes being lost, neglected, or mistreated. Because the Bakers gave him a chance to prove he would not be trouble, he has now found a home at Fodderstack Farm and has been embraced as a protector of the other animals. He is in a place where his beauty can be appreciated. And how fun

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