Thor’s Great-Great-Grandparent was a Cow

No, this is not a gender slam. It is not being sexist. It is literal, or at least mythologically literal. So read on to see what I mean.

Thor’s dad was Odin. Thanks to the Marvel Universe movies, most know this. But do you know Odin’s parent and grandparent? His dad was Bor. Bor was the offspring of Buri, Thor’s great-grandad?

Now, here’s the unique legend. Buri was the father of the first of the gods. But Buri was created by the tongue of the cow Audhumla. She formed Buri by licking the salt and frost covered stones that were revealed when the frost of the North melted. It took three days of licking.

You thought your family tree was filled with unusual limbs.

There was a time that Thor’s hammer was lost to the frost giants. They said they would return it if Freya wed their king. She refused but Loki persuaded Thor to dress as Freya and deceive the frost giant king. At the a great feast, when the veil was lifted for a kiss, the deception was almost lost. But in the end, Thor grabbed the hammer, slayed the king and other giants, and returned to Asgard.

Deception is used many times in warfare. Even in the Bible there are times of deception in warfare (Rahab, Ehud, etc.). But we must be very careful in giving approval to deception. Way too often we use deception in our lives … we pretend on social media, we live beyond our means, and we put on ‘masks’ so people don’t see the real us – full of flaws, scars, baggage. We try to hide our family. I mean, who wants to be known as having a cow in their family tree? But God sees the real us and still loves us. He sees past the mess, masks, and mendaciousness (lies). And He loves us. He knows the wacky family tree. And He loves us.

His desire is for us to walk in truth. So let’s take that to heart.

Today … walk in the Truth, live according to His ways, and find a community that knows the real you and continues to love you.

I am so thankful for my family. Dysfunctional? In some ways, yes. My family? Yes. And I love ’em.