Book 254 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: Love Your Slops!

Book – The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery

Book Description:

A naturalist who spent months at a time living on her own among wild creatures in remote jungles, Sy Montgomery had always felt more comfortable with animals than with people. So she gladly opened her heart to a sick piglet who had been crowded away from nourishing meals by his stronger siblings. Yet Sy had no inkling that this piglet, later named Christopher Hogwood, would not only survive but flourish.

The Good Good Pig celebrates Christopher Hogwood in all his glory, from his inauspicious infancy to hog heaven in rural New Hampshire. At first his domain included only Sy's hens and border collie, Tess. Then the neighbors began fetching Christopher home from his unauthorized jaunts, the little girls next door started giving him baths, and the villagers brought him delicious leftovers. His fame increased along with his girth. He was featured in USA Today and on several National Public Radio programs.

But as this enchanting book describes, Christopher Hogwood's influence extended far beyond celebrity. Sy reveals what she learned from this generous soul who just so happened to be a pig - lessons about self-acceptance, the value of community, and the pleasures of the sweet green Earth.

Reflection:

This book had me at the name Christopher Hogwood! I chuckle every single time I see it.

I don’t know what it is about stories of humans and animals, but I just can’t ever get enough. Give me a story about a tiny piglet who no one wanted and goes on to live a fulfilling life of purpose and I’m all in. That is basically The Good Good Pig in a nutshell.

Christopher didn’t have a normal life for a pig, as a matter of fact, he almost didn’t hardly have a chance at life at all. He was the runt of the runts of the litter and was written off by everyone around him as a piglet that would most likely never be able to fulfill his purpose. His own mother, siblings, and even the farmers had determined it was probably best for everyone if they ended his chance at life early.

Thank God that didn’t happen because as Sy’s husband says, “Where there is life, there is hope”. I’m thankful someone gave this pig a chance at living a purpose filled existence and he didn’t disappoint. Christopher went on to live an amazing life and touched so many people along the way and will continue to live on through Sy’s beautiful words.

The Year of Magical Learning is all about exploring values and purpose, not just my own but in general as well. As we’ve learned before on this journey, all creatures in this world have a unique purpose and pigs are no exception. Through this particular story, I learned what a pig’s purpose and shocker, it is to eat everything in sight!

Christopher would eat and eat and eat! As Sy says, you could literally see pure joy on his face each and every time they would slop a bucket of food filled with random things down for him to eat.

That is the feeling that purpose can bring to each of us as well, pure joy. I’m smiling right this second as I type these words because I’m hard at work fulfilling my own purpose this morning while writing this reflection. There is something about that feeling you get when you know you are in the right place and doing the right things that are guaranteed to spark joy inside of you. It is almost magical. That is the visual I get when I think about Christopher eating his food. He’s in hog heaven every time he gets a chance to eat his slops.

Christopher’s life wasn’t perfect, far from it. I’ll never be able to prove this, but something deep down feels like he knew that he wasn’t supposed to have a chance to happily eat his slops for 15 years when he wasn’t supposed to make it past a few days old as the runt of the litter. That is what made fulfilling his purpose so much more special for him each day he was blessed to do so.

It is a great reminder for all of us to remember to love our slops as well. No one’s life is perfect. Each unique quest for purpose will be filled with highs and lows that we can’t control. What you can control is cherishing the moments that you get to eat your slops and fulfill your purpose because you never know when it will be your last.

Question: How are you remind yourself to cherish the times when you get to live your purpose?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? - An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery