CHEWING THE CUD

There’s an old saying, “you can take the girl off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the girl.”  I grew up on the farm and have always been intrigued by a strange habit of cows.

Cows chew their cud. 

“What’s cud?”

That’s a good question. 

A cow is a special animal called a ruminant—it has four compartments in its stomach.  When it swallows its food, it goes down into the first and then second “stomach” where it is mixed and softened.  The stomach muscles then cause the food to come back up into the cow’s mouth.  This food, the second time around, is called “cud.” 

The cow then slowly chews this cud and swallows it again where it is further digested, moving on into the third and fourth compartments of the stomach.

This second chewing is necessary to break down the food and make it usable to the cow’s body.  This process of re-chewing the food is called “chewing the cud.”

This may sound a little repulsive to us as humans, but the cows actually seem to enjoy it.  In my mind’s eye, I can still see those cows on the farm, resting in the shade of the occasional tree, chewing their cud.  It’s a peaceful sight.

As a figure of speech, “chewing the cud” has come to have meaning for us humans, too.

When we take time to ponder or meditate on something, we call it “chewing the cud.”  We’re analyzing a thought in order to understand it, or to derive a deeper meaning from it, or to gain insights from it.

I’m continually reminded of how this is a picture of what we do when we mediate on Scripture.  

When the cow chews, it is actively involved in the chewing process of further preparing the cud for digestion.  It’s not just holding the cud in its mouth thinking, “Oh, I really like the taste of this sweet cud” and then swallowing it again.  Instead, it chews and chews and chews until the cud is further prepared to give out its nutrients.

Likewise, when we read Scripture, just reading it through doesn’t produce the “nutrients” necessary to bring us into conformity to its teaching.  We need to think about it; analyze it—look for applications of it’s meaning in our lives. 

When we meditate in this way, we’re “chewing the cud.”

The “nutrients” of Scripture are so rich and plentiful, but many people miss out on the depth of their truth because they fail to "chew the cud.”  They bypass this step of the digestion process because it takes time, or they just aren’t interested, or perhaps they don’t know how.

Because this last reason (that people don’t know how) is so prevalent, here’s a suggestion:

Take a verse or passage you would like to meditate on and write it out on a 3x5 card.  Keep it handy throughout the day and try to commit it to memory. 

As you do this, something amazing happens:  you begin to concentrate on the words, trying to remember them, finding that after a little time has elapsed, you don’t remember the exact words, (or perhaps the order of the words) so you check back to your card.  Then your mind starts analyzing the words to create ways of remembering them—a deeper meaning that relates to your own life. 

Before you realize it, you’re “chewing the cud.”

Of course, you could sit down under a shade tree and go through the process all at one time like a cow, but I’ve found that I rarely have time to do that!

Happy “chewing” on Scripture, and enjoy your “cud.”