The Weaning Process: It's good for cows, but is it good for you?

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

—Psalm 30:5b

“What’s that?” I wondered out loud. I turned down the volume on the TV so I could hear what was going on outside. “Cows mooing at 8 PM?” I was puzzled, for cows rarely moo at night. I shrugged and turned my attention back to the TV.

“What’s that?” I rolled over to see the clock. “Cows mooing at 2 AM? That’s really strange,” I thought. Too tired to investigate, I pulled up the covers and went back to sleep.

At 6 AM I blinked my eyes open and stumbled to the coffee pot. I placed the steaming cup on the table and picked up a book. But I couldn’t concentrate on reading because of the cow moo-athon. “What is going on?” Hesitating no longer, I picked up my phone and texted my farmer brother.

His response explained it, “We just weaned some calves.”

“They sure don’t like it!” I texted back.

Cattle farmers usually wean 6 to 10 month-old calves, who are able to consume forages and grains, by physically separating them from their mothers. Forcibly weaning a calf protects it from potential malnourishment and stunted growth. If an older calf continues to nurse, the mother will not provide enough milk for the calf to grow (Pets on Mom.Me).

Even though I knew this, my heart broke to hear the calves crying for their mothers, perhaps because I could relate. I could remember those times when the familiar was stripped away from me. It started when my mother walked out the door of my classroom on the first day of kindergarten. It occurred again years later when I set off for college and again when I found myself single and alone in my first apartment.

Over time the excitement of settling into a career and establishing a life on my own overshadowed those early pangs of homesickness. I married and had children. Then my marriage fell apart, and I found myself, like the calves, crying through the night, wondering if anyone was listening. Did God hear my prayers? Did He care?

Fast forward 18 years. Having married off all my children, I found myself alone once again and crying through the night, for I missed them so.

I wonder if the mother cows were part of the moo-athon. Did they miss their little ones who were taken to another pasture? Were they crying out to them? They don’t know that weaning protects them too. If a calf nurses too long, it will rob its mother of nutrients, causing her to become physically weak. (That’s a lesson for another day!)

Fast forward five more years to today. Now I can look back on all those times when I felt alone, abandoned even, and know they were for my good, part of God’s faith-growing process. He heard my cries in the night, and even though I couldn’t see Him, He was with me. Through it all, He made me stronger.

Perhaps you are experiencing a scary, gut-wrenching transition yourself—leaving home, losing a favored position, dealing with divorce, or saying goodbye to loved ones. The darkness seems heavy around you, and you wonder if God cares. Is He listening to your prayers?

Yes!

“The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry” (Psalm 34:15).

God is just changing your diet.

He wants all Christians to grow in faith—to move from craving spiritual milk (1 Peter 2:2-3) to solid food, the deeper truths of His Word (Hebrews 5:12-14). Trials and transitions are the opportunities to prove our faith, to take God at His Word, and grow in the knowledge of Him.

At 7 AM the sun broke over the horizon and light flooded the farm, hushing the crying cows.

You too will make it through the night. He will work all things out for your good (Romans 8:28). And the nights of crying your eyes out will give way to days of laughter (Psalm 30:5b MSG).

Dear Father, thank You for the rich food of Your Word and Your abiding presence as I endure the growing pains of faith. Thank You for putting up with me as I “mooed” through those lonely nights and for making me lie down in green pastures, where You have restored my soul and given me a craving for being alone—with You. Amen.