  My daughter and I went to see the Spring Turnout in the beautiful Creston Valley this past weekend. I was not sure what to expect, as this was the first time that I had experienced the releasing of the cows. After a long winter of being cooped up, for both myself and of course the cows, this was a great experience. From the Kootenay Meadows Facebook page: Get ready to hoof it to the most udderly fantastic event in the Creston Valley! Spring Turnout 2024 is coming up this Saturday, April 20th, at Kootenay Meadows, and it’s going to be a pasture party like no udder! Prepare to be amazed as the cows kick up their heels and frolic in the fields after a long winter indoors. It’s a moooving experience you won’t want to miss! I had heard people talking about the previous year's Spring Turnout and the experience seemed to be consistent, it's "heart-warming". Kootenay Meadows is an amazing farm, and their attention to the well-being of the cows is next level. They take extra care, and the cows are loved beyond all measure, it is truly beyond heart-warming. Finding the words to explain what I, and most in attendance, were feeling is a bit challenging. There was joy, laughter, and some tears from the crowds. I am swelling with emotion as I am writing this, as most of the cows were elated with joy that far exceeds any words I can conjure up. "They're just useless cows?", some of you might be insisting. Well... they're not useless and certainly not emotionless. I was utterly (pun intended) amazed by the excitement and joy the cows had running, kicking up their heels, frolicking, mooing, and lowing. Such a sight to see! My daughter and I were blessed to have a couple of cows come within a few feet of where we were standing and started lowing (mooing). It was like these darling heifers or cows were saying, "It's about damn time" and "Thank you for experiencing our joy". If you read my blogs consistently, I have a theme, overcoming hate with loving action. I try my best to not judge and give solutions to sometimes very difficult heart issues. This being said, I also understand the "tricks" that come from people in high places, the Controllers. Many people who are trained in the art of deception and lies to control our lives think of us as "useless cattle". These controllers believe that they are better than us commoners. Some of these people even go as far as to think that they are chosen people of God and that they are given the keys by "God" to control our lives. Population control in some circles of influence is also a determining factor in believing what they do. I am not trying to confine any elitist group or individual to a certain system of belief, as this would be presumptuous, but the "I'm better" runs strong in the modern mindset. These people are apathetic to our emotional well being, exuding the emotional characteristics of, well, cattle(?). I now see the irony... The cows got me thinking, is this what we live for, the anticipation of waiting for the gates to open? The small dopamine hits of enjoyment in life, when we get to frolic and kick up our heels in some foreign country or overstuffing our appetite with widgets, gadgets, and gizmos...Oh my. The anticipation of waiting for the gates to open in order to have a happy and fulfilled life seems like a distant dream for many people. If we are given a choice to stay locked in the bondage of what the Bible calls Sodom and Egypt (modern-day slavery), or grazing on better pastures, would we even recognize the difference? Is our whole existence in life waiting for the gates to open? Are we waiting for the magic formula, instead of marveling at being alive? I am perplexed with people who are content with the gates opening and closing for them, who go with the flow, and who never question the gate-keepers. I constantly question whether or not our controllers, the gatekeepers, have our best interest in mind. What kind of fodder are we? Are we feeding the industrial complex, the controllers, the system? Sometimes, like the cows, we spend months (sometimes years) of solitary confinement, and rarely, if ever, do we choose this prison. We struggle to understand the purpose of being in the holding cell of life, but we trudge on trying to find the meaning and/or purpose during this moment in time. For some of us, we don't understand if this confinement is for our safety or a lesson to be learned. Maybe, we are being removed from the storms of life, protected from persecutions of hate and anger, or an unforeseeable accident. We don't understand but we should accept. So, we keep up the façade, day after day, week after week, year after year, waiting for the gates to open. A very good friend of mine, tells me something all the time, I want to pass it on to you, as I believe what he says is true (any similarity to the 70's song is purely coincidence, lol). This is "earth school". Yes, earth school, that's it. What am I learning in earth school? How do others affect me and how do I affect others? Teaching and learning, learning and teaching. The biggest lesson of all is taking care of each other and teaching one another, these are the real keys to a better life. We don't need to wait for the gate-keepers to ensure the better pastures with loving action. It does not matter if we accept or reject solitary confinement. Eventually, the gates swing wide and mooovement is necessary. We can stay behind the gate, remaining in the bondage of past trauma, or the comfort of the feeding troughs. However, for me, I don't want to live in past fear any longer. I am choosing to be the first at the gate. I want to frolic and kick up my heels at the greener pastures that have been promised by a loving God. A promise? Yes, a promise! We have been promised a life everlasting as well as a Paradise Earth. A Paradise Earth, called the New Jerusalem, a place we reside after the Beast is slain. Maybe this is as simple as facing our fears and trusting in God. A spiritual city built for those who believe and trust in the Lord according to the purpose of God. His purpose ("Its" purpose for people who struggle with a masculine conceptualization)? According to the purpose or will of God is this; Love your neighbor as yourself. These attributes are found in the Holy Spirit, which indwells in us. It is a choosing, willing, or deciding the conscious will of God, to do life with full intent of loving one another. When we find the will of God, we enter through the gates of the new city to paradise, or a life everlasting. God is the essence and existence of all creation. God is the Ipsum Esse Subsistens, which is contained within Itself or Himself the whole perfection of esse. Esse is found even in the cattle or cow. Wow... it seems simple when writing how to love and live, it is tougher to put into action. What do we witness in one another, frolicking with joy or wallowing with sorrow? A strange blog this week because of the emotional cows, it is stranger still how life works. Life is allegoric, metaphoric, and parabolic, it is the Esse found in everything. Be like the cattle or the cows, by giving thanks and showing gratitude, with the aptitude of a loving and joyful nature. Until next week... Love always, William John
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