No Cow Parent

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Ray and I recently met a small town attorney. One of his legal specialties is child neglect and abuse. He told us about a term he uses to describe “deadbeat” parents. He calls them cow parents. He explained the term by getting us to picture cows in a field tending to themselves. He said that some parents act like cow parents by leaving their children to tend to themselves. He said that sometimes when he meets with a judge to work on a case, the judge will begin by asking what kind of case they are working on this time. Sometimes his response is a simple: “We have a cow parent.”

Jesus’ mother Mary was no cow parent. Instead she faced extremely difficult situations with sacrificial love. Though friends and neighbors might have seen her pregnancy as a “problem pregnancy,” she gave birth to her Son (Matthew 2:6). After His birth, she kept her baby and took care of Him (Matthew 2:7). When her baby was in danger, Mary and Joseph whisked Him away to Egypt in obedience to God’s warning (Matthew 2:14-15). Traveling and moving so far away with a baby could not have been easy. When God told them to come back, they traveled and moved again (Matthew 2:21). When Mary realized that Jesus was missing after a trip to Jerusalem for Passover, she and Joseph went back and looked for Him anxiously (Luke 2:45). As her Son grew into a man, He was in subjection to her (Luke 2:51). Like all devoted mothers, Mary treasured special things about her Son in her heart (Luke 2:51). When Jesus met the greatest challenge of His life, Mary stood by Him and His cross (John 19:25).

When we need an example of how not to be a cow parent ourselves, we can remember Mary’s example, but we can also look to our own heavenly Father. Where would we be if He left us to tend to ourselves?

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1

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