I am reading a book by Michael Yaconelli entitled Dangerous Wonder. Yaconelli went into the ministry and spent 25 years in church related work, but still felt lost and unfulfilled. This book is about finding his way again. Although written from a Christian perspective, I think any one can get a lot out of the stories and then you can skip the rest, if you are so inclined.Yaconelli tells about how cows get lost. We have all seen the occasional stray cow that has gotten on the other side of the fence. You see, the cow doesn’t mean to get lost. He is simply nibbling on a nice green tuft of grass in the middle of the field, moving from one delicious green tuft to another. Before you know it the cow has moved all the way across the field to the fence where, of course, there is another luscious tuft of grass on the other side of the fence. So the cow stumbles through an old tear in the fence and finds himself out of the pasture and by the road. The point is the cow did not intend to get lost, he just keep on nibbling his way through life and got lost.

Isn’t that a lot like us. We just keep going through life doing what we do. Eating the tuft of education, the tuft of a new car, the tuft of a house, the tuft of credit cards until we too are outside the pasture. I am guilty of being a little impulsive, spending money when I could really live without. (Now I’m glad we didn’t start the $200,000 house remodel I wanted).  Maybe we got a little over ambitious about what we could afford and what we really needed. I know I did. I really didn’t need that day at the spa, although it was wonderful, or the new pair of shoes. Don’t get lost and get on the other side of the fence. Stay in the pasture.