followHIM - I Heard the Cow On Christmas Day • followHIM Favorites • December 23 - 29 • Come Follow Me

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Join Hank Smith and John Bytheway on followHIM Favorites as they share a  touching narrative emphasizing the joy of giving and the impact of small acts of kindness. Tune in to the full followHIM podcast for more inspiring stories and lessons.SHOW NOTES/TRANSCRIPTSEnglish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM52ENFrench: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM52FRGerman: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM52DEPortuguese: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM52PTSpanish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM52ESYOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/SoXrbcxFunUALL EPISODES/SHOW NOTESfollowHIM website: https://www.followHIMpodcast.comFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookWEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletterSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Follow Him Favorites. And actually, Hank, I first saw it on a movie that BYU Productions made called The Gift years ago before BYU TV. So here's the gist. There's this young man. He's going through the catalog. What can I get dad for Christmas? Every morning, dad wakes him up at like 5 a.m.

to go milk the cow, shovel the hay for the other animals, do all that stuff. It's hard. He's just a kid. One day, he's about to wake up and he hears his dad talking to his mom. His dad says, I hate to wake him up so early. He's a young man. He needs to sleep. He's just growing.

And his mom's like, I know know but he needs to learn to work and he has this feeling oh my dad loves me yeah he goes and takes care of the cows and everything and then he has this idea i know what i can give my dad for christmas i can do the work on christmas day in the morning i can do all of the work and I can surprise my father. And it's really a fun movie. Hank, have you ever set the alarm and you just keep checking to see if it's really going to go off this time? Did I miss it? Did I miss it? Yeah. He keeps waking up. It's 1am. I think it is 2am when he crawls out of bed, quietly puts on his galoshes. He walks across the crunchy snow, trying not to wake anybody up, opens up the door. He says the cow looks surprised.

I don't know. The only expression I've seen on a cow is exactly the same look every time, right? No matter what. But he sees the cow. He says the cow looks surprised. He milks the cow. He covers up the milk can with some canvas, shovels some hay, does everything he's supposed to do. And he's looking at the clock, but it's, oh no, it's about

the time where dad comes to get me. He runs back. He runs up to his room as quietly as he can, dives in his bed. He pulls the covers over himself, hiding that he's still in his work clothes. And suddenly he hears that knock at the door and he's kind of acting, oh, dad. Come on, son. I know it's Christmas day, but we still have to feed the animals. That's the nature of farm work. He says, I'll be out in a minute. And then he hears his dad go down the stairs. He hears his dad walking across the snow and he hears his dad open the barn door. And that moment right there, Hank, that's the spirit of Christmas. Because he knows what his dad's doing. His dad looks at the cow who's like, again, hello.

I already gave this morning. I just did this. His dad looks at the cow. He lifts up the canvas, sees the milk is full. The hay is shoveled. And the little boy, he's just giddy. There's something about giving a gift that is so fun. The little boy's just giddy back there. And his dad walks across the snow, comes up the stairs, opens the door and says, son,

no one ever did a nicer thing. And then the part that always gets me, the dad says, this is the first time I'll be able to see the girls come down the stairs on Christmas morning. Let's go out together. He says, every Christmas Eve now, I remember that Christmas of the perfect gift I got for dad. And it was a gift of service, a gift of saving dad some time and a gift of surprising a cow, which is always an effort. So even the cow got a Christmas surprise. So that is a story by Pearl S. Buck. The Tabernacle Choir did a version. You can buy a little book of it.

I love the story because I saw that movie and it affected me as a kid. Right. To find a way to serve. And it also affected me because you've heard it all your life. It's better to give than to receive. And every once in a while, when you find a really good gift, it is really fun to give and to feel that. That's beautiful. And that really is the spirit of Christmas.

What can I do that will really bless someone's life? Because the Savior comes to earth. He gives us this gift of blessing us in a way that we can't comprehend. How can we do that in some small way for somebody else? How can we bless their life? And feel of the little of that. You feel that way once you'll want to feel that way again. Yeah, it really is.

We hope you'll join us on our full podcast. It's called follow him. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We're with president and sister Meredith of BYU, Idaho this week. And John, they are a riot. That's great. And it's always Christmasy and cold up there. Yeah, yeah.

You can always, it's Christmas every day in Rexburg. Yeah, they were great. They are so much fun. And then come back next week. We are going to start a new year of Follow Him Favorites.