Being raised on a farm we had a milk cow. We named her Dairy Queen and played with her as most would play with their dog or cat. She would lie down in the field and we would sit on her back. She didn’t seem to mind at all. As a matter of fact, I think she liked the attention.

Behind the pasture there was a wooded area that dad kept open to Dairy Queen and our other farm animals so they could get shade and some relief from the flies that are always present on a farm. There were wild onions that would come up in different places in the woods and Dairy Queen seemed to enjoy eating them.

The problem was that she was our source of milk and butter and when she ate those onions, it would ruin her milk. It would have the smell and taste of those wild onions. The milk would then have to be thrown away and it took some time for Dairy Queen’s system to clear up from the onions she had eaten. Until we locked the gate to the woods and went in and pulled up the wild onions, the problem remained. However, once we pulled the wild onions we could let her back in the woods so she could enjoy the cool shade on those hot summer days.

We can also eat things that will affect us, however it is not the things we eat that affect us most, it is the things that we allow in our eyes and ears that will ruin our life. It has been said that the very access to our soul is our eyes and ears. Dairy Queen did not want to ruin her milk, she just enjoyed the taste of those wild onions, but because of it she had to spend time in the hot sun until we could get rid of the problem. Do you think it might be possible that many of the problems we deal with are a result of what we have allowed in? Could it be that those things ruin our relationships and influence just like those wild onions ruined Dairy Queen’s milk?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington High School Gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30.

Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 West Court St. in Washington C.H.