Photo was taken at Ratheniska, Co. Laois (Irl)

This herd of cows never had as many eyes watching them, as they had this week! After watching and observing them myself they certainly were happy and relaxed despite all the attention they were getting. The fact that the cows were being milked by a robot (photo inset) was the main attraction.
(More in Thought For Today below)

Thought on Friday – September – 27/09/2013

The ploughing championships in Co.Laois were an outstanding success over the past three days. I was lucky enough to get the chance to go with my school Col√°iste Choilm on Wednesday. There was a crowd of 100,000 people there and there was just so much to see and do. There probably isn’t enough time to get around and see everything in one day but certainly enough time and variety of events to make it a great day. One item that drew huge attention and crowds was the robotic automatic milking machine. All the cows looked happy and content as they queued to be milked. They came in their own turn and it all seemed to work so easy. What got my attention was the chat between farmers as it all went on. The good old days kept coming up: “I remember when I hand milked my cows” or “I remember walking with my cows to the mart” or “I never thought I’d see the day when a robot would milk a cow”.

Sometimes the past seems such a long way from the present. Technology has moved on at an incredible pace. But no matter how forward we move with new ideas and technology, we can never completely forget the past. Traditions, values, stories and memories and life lessons are so important and can never be ignored or pushed to one side. We build the future on them. The values, stories and life lessons that are presented in the Gospels are also special and important. They still speak to our modern world today and keep us connected to what’s really important in our lives today. They remind us of God’s constant presence in our world today. Nothing stays the same as the world moves forward, but God’s love for us will always be constant and will never change.