Spiritual Chewing

Prior to retiring some twelve years ago, I had never really been around any large animals such as inhabit a farm.  I well remember the first time I stepped into the pasture where four cows grazed.  They seemed huge.  I had no idea what they would or would not do.  Now there are ten.  And while I still respect the fact that each cow is a large animal that could inadvertently came me pain, there is no longer any apprehension about being out there among them.  I have learned a lot about them.  And, I have learned a lot from them.     

One of the first things they taught me was their practice of rumination.  With large tongues wrapped around the grass, they break it, and swallow it into one of their four stomachs.  After their fill of eating, they go down on their haunches, regurgitate what has been eaten, and chew on it for awhile before swallowing it again.  There is nothing more peaceful around here than those moments when the cows are sitting out there chewing their cud.    

Rumination and contemplation seem to be synonyms.  The cow chews what has been eaten and our spiritual disciplines invite us to contemplate what we have read and allowed to become a part of us.  As the cow needs to sit with what has been received, so do we need to sit with the Word which we have read and put inside our mind and heart.  It is not enough to simply read.  There also needs to be some silence, some stillness, some time for just sitting with the Word with a prayer that whatever it is that God is saying to us through that Word might become life giving for us.  As the cow chews its cud, so do we need to chew on the Word.