Thursday, December 31, 2009

Another New Year


Years ago we had colourful bantam chickens as part of our ‘pet’ barnyard. They had the run of the yard and their own little hen-house with nest boxes and a night roost above the ground where they loved to sleep.

One year we decided we wanted some baby ducks and bought some fertilized eggs.

Rather that incubate them under lights we ‘hired’ our bantam hen to do the job. She and her mate were delighted with the whole surrogate parenting thing and faithfully kept those eggs warm.

In due time the eggs successfully hatched and you never saw parents more proud of their ‘chicks’.
They didn’t seem to notice that their ‘chicks’ grew too big too quickly making it rather difficult, and quickly impossible, to fit them all under Mother Bantam's little wings.

The day the 'chicks' found our pond and instinctively went for a swim, Mr. and Mrs. Bantam realized that they had some severely challenged offspring. They clucked wildly from the edge of the pond and reluctantly the ducklings returned to their parents perplexed at what all the fuss was about.

The real problem arose when the parents decided the ‘chicks’ were big enough to join them on the roost for night. They demonstrated the flight up and squawked for the ‘chicks’ to join them.
The ducklings looked up in confusion and found no responding desire in themselves to ‘roost’. Somehow they knew webbed feet were not going to be able to balance on nor grasp the wooden rod.

We watched in amusement as every night the Mother Bantam tried to coax her ‘chicks’ to join her on the roost. Up she flew, then down and up again , clucking instructions the whole time.
She seemed to be convinced that if they watched long enough they would surely catch on.
They would/could not.

Finally, she just decided to sleep with her children on the ground rather than leave them alone and afraid.

I thought what a beautiful picture this was of what God did for us.

We could not come up to Him. Our sin ‘webbed’ our soul and we could no longer grasp His holiness.
So what did God do, but come down to us, to live among us where we were comfortable, rather than leave us alone and afraid.

John 3:13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
(NKJV)

We are approaching another new year.
We look back on the year that is past and in hindsight view the blessings and the trials.
We do not know what the new year will bring.... but as Christians we have an anchor. We have a God who cared enough about us to come down to dwell among us. He gave us every promise that He would see us through whatever comes our way.

We need not fear the new year, because we know God has already passed through the year and prepared it for us. He has not left us to walk here alone. He has come down to walk with us. His Holy Spirit lives within us and is our trustworthy guide.

May this be our song throughout 2010,
Isa 12:2 ...Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; 'For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.' "
****

12 comments:

Lady Laura said...

what a beautiful story and great analogy.

Marg said...

Now you know what I will be thinking about next time I take a walk through the barns.
I love your insight.
Blessings to you in the New Year!

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

He has already prepared this year...and is preparing to shape me through it. No fear...just a bit of wariness and a hopeful expectation that the journey will have lots of joyful passages.

Judy said...

What a great post to begin the new year. I so like the picture of the persistent parenting that happened in your barnyard...good analogy.

Happy New Year, Julie!

BPOTW said...

That is such a great story and wonderful lesson!!

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year! Enjoyed this analogy. Kathy (MGCC)

Anneliese said...

You have a gift for seeing "teaching moments" in everyday life. What a neat analogy, once again.
Wishing you a Happy New year!

Vicki said...

What a great analogy, Julie!

Have a blessed and happy and healthy New Year!

Lovella ♥ said...

What a beautiful story Julie and told as only you can. I love how you describe the nature that our creator made.

James Janzen said...

That is soo cute!! We can learn a lot from animals even though we are "supposed" to be the smart ones. Our little puppy is a true example of unconditional love. All of God's best for you and yours this new year.

Betty said...

What a great post Julie..I smiled and nodded my way through it! You tell it well.

Nicki said...

Haven't been by in quite a while. Got busy and haven't been blogging much. Inspirational message as usual written in beautiful language that is easy for us all to understand and relate to our lives. Thanks. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.