Iowa IPL executive director Matt Russell with his cow Daisy and her calf born on New Year’s Day with a little help from the farm family.
A common calling across many faith traditions is the call to active waiting. We wait for births, for deaths, for healing, for redemption. The discipline of our faiths invites and inspires patience. But in no way is this act of waiting to be simply passive, to just sit back and let things happen around us. In our patience, in our waiting, we are called to pay attention, to be ready, to prepare, and ultimately to act.
We had an intense time of waiting at our farm during these holy days at the end of the year. We were preparing for our 17-year-old cow Daisy to give birth to her 15th calf. Daisy was a twin on my parents’ farm in 2002. She spent her first four months as a bottle calf at the Blank Park Zoo petting
barn. She is indeed a pet.
Daisy is old for a cow. We had to pull her calf last year. We were watching her closely to make sure we could be there if she needed help again this year. By the time we helped pull her calf on New Year’s Day, I had been getting up through the night to check on her for over two weeks. Friends, family, and even colleagues knew about Daisy as we adjusted our schedule so someone could be near by if she went into labor and needed our help. This wasn’t passive waiting. My husband Patrick and I were actively waiting to be ready when we were needed.
One of my actions during these days and nights was to pray for some insight about what it means to wait, to set the alarm, to put on boots and coveralls in the middle of the night, and to walk to the barn—over and over.
I thought about the question “what had we been waiting for that finally took off in 2019 for climate action?” We were waiting for Greta and the global youth movement. We were waiting for climate change to become a top campaign issue. We were waiting for cities and states to increase their climate action and to continue to be in the Paris Agreement. We were waiting for farmers to lead in developing solutions to the climate crisis. We were waiting for millions of faith-based climate actions across our nation. All of that came to pass in 2019. And we were ready. Our prayerful, patient, active waiting had prepared us to jump in and participate. After all, isn’t that the holy response into which all of our faiths call us?
What are we waiting for in 2020? How are we preparing? Will we be ready for what becomes possible this year? I believe 2020 will be even more transformative than 2019 for climate action. At Iowa IPL we are ready for whatever opportunities become possible to empower Iowans of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate change. We look forward to working with all of you in the coming year because we believe what we are waiting for in 2020 will be even bigger than what we think is possible.