Man there is nothing worse than a sick goat! Except of course if it’s a sick family member or friend, or friend or family of a friend, or…you get my point. Human illness is more difficult to deal with than animal. I remember when our first child was born. She stayed in the hospital for a week on monitors. When we brought her home I missed the monitors telling me she was o.k.. In the hospital there was, second by second, confirmation. At home, for the first week or two, I was constantly checking to be sure she was breathing.
Back to the original subject, this goat of mine. We have five nannies all ready to kid in the next week or two. Everything was coming along fine until one of my best does comes up lame on her right rear leg. I checked her over multiple times looking for a bad hoof but could find nothing. Then I began looking at metabolic sources like Founder. It could be. I thought about the possibility she got kicked by one of my cows, fairly unlikely. She could have been exploring on the huge brush pile out back and got twisted up. Are you getting the sense that I’m not quite sure what is wrong with her. That’s the worst, not knowing what is wrong so I can treat it, fix it.
I could call a vet. She still has a good appetite. She’s still alert. She still goes in and out with her fellow nannies. Is the vet even going to be able to tell me something I don’t already know? Is she maybe even getting a little better? I’ve done the things that I can do. We’ll just wait and see what happens. Man, there is nothing worse than a sick goat!
I’m nursing my own sore foot. Plantar fasciitis is a painful condition of the foot. Ironically, as I go out to check on Iris, my nanny, I limp on my own right foot. I know what the problem is. I need to stretch my Achilles tendon, take some ibuprofen, ice and rest. I’m too busy. But at least I know what the problem is and how to fix it. So far I’ve been dealing with the pain rather well. I keep saying to myself; “I’ve gotta take care of this thing!” I think it may be getting worse. As I sit here my foot is throbbing. Why don’t I take care of the problem, my own problem? A problem I have identified and can treat. Instead I’m worrying more about my goat’s problem? Just thinking about how I walk out to the pasture in pain to check on my goat with the foot problem because I fail to take care of my own foot problem, I’m feeling a little silly.
I have to think of how Jesus uses the log and the speck illustration. It is so easy to recognize a problem in a neighbor. I wonder what's wrong with them? So often it seems worse than our own problem. They should really do something about their problem! Are you talkin' to me?
