Balance
I was thinking today…no, it didn’t hurt. 
I was reminiscing on my sheep herding days. Remembering a time the old ewe Aurora, matriarch of my entire flock, was laboring with one of her last lambs in my flock. She had a single this year and it had grown LARGE.
Aurora was a huge sheep herself (Suffolk), but this baby was really not going to be a breeze to give birth to. Normally, when Aurora lambed, she gave me twins or even triplets and the smaller size lambs made for a much easier birthing experience. So, this year, I could tell there was reason for concern when the old gal couldn’t quite get this lamb birthed.
I bribed her into the lambing jug (that ol’ gal would sell her soul for grain and a little thing like a long labor and difficult delivery weren’t going to come between her and a handful of sweetfeed). Once she was in the lambing barn and safe in the stall, I mostly just quietly waited to see if she could get the whole thing done by herself. Little by little the lamb started to be visible, but she was getting exhausted.
Eventually, I decided I’d just hold on to the hooves of the lamb, and gently give her a little assistance to get this thing pushed out. As she had a contraction, I held traction on the lamb’s front feet. As her contraction ended I held on for just a bit longer and the lamb stayed advanced until the next contraction. Soon Aurora picked up on the ebb and flow of this procedure, and she’d PUUUUSH and I’d hold on, and little by little this huge lamb started making progress. Finally, she leaned into her last PUUSH, and all of a sudden, what ever was hung up on that baby huey of a lamb got released and out popped her baby. Well, Aurora was exhausted, and, much to her surprize, the straining and pushing she’d been doing caught her off-balance when the baby slipped out, and she fell forward into the water bucket. It was a rather comical site, seing this big ol ewe with her face in the water bucket - although Aurora didn’t seem amused! Soon, though she was back on her feet, and busily tending to her baby “talking” to her and licking her dry. I love how ewes talk to their babies.
Isn’t life kind of like that whole birthing experience though? We struggle and push and pull and strain against life’s challenges. Once in a while we get a little help from a friend to just make it thru the day. Then one day, it’s all behind us, but occasionally we’re caught so off-balance by the whole thing we end up with our head in the bucket!
The ebb and flow of the challenge had become what felt normal to us. We were working with that and knew what to expect, understood it. It was difficult, but it was familiar and our focus was sharp as we anticipated the next wave of challenges. As soon as the day came when it was no longer an issue, we now aren’t sure exactly what to do. It takes a little while to get your balance, doesn’t it? To “pull your head out” as it were! Like Aurora though, once we’re back up and on our feet, we busy ourselves with the next task at hand, and life goes on…
E.M., hadn’t heard that story about Aurora. I love the analogy to life. Your friend in MO.