First Entry - That's the Law

We have a park near our home. It is a pretty park surrounding a small lake. However, when visiting this park you do have to be careful where you place your feet because of the 'evidence' left by the  many Canadian Geese and ducks that call it home.

We spent some time there yesterday afternoon and enjoyed just sitting and watching the turtles, geese and ducks, many of them in families. The above photo was my favorite - a mommy duck with her lone little duckling. The duckling was very newly hatched and stumbled awkwardly over uneven ground  scrambling to follow its mother who slowed her walk to allow her little one to keep up.

Do you know that when a duckling hatches from its egg, the first thing it sees that moves is accepted as its 'mother' and it will accept no other?
One summer I hatched duck eggs, bought from a hatchery,  under a light.  The first thing the little ducklings saw was my moving feet and I was declared to be the 'mother'.  They followed me everywhere, and loved to snuggle up under my clothing, on my lap or on my feet. They quacked loudly if I was not in sight and refused to eat until they could see me again. Then they cooed contentedly, ate, and settled down, until I moved when they scrambled to follow as fast as their little paddled feet could go. My heart was so moved by their trust in me, their dependence on me and how unquestioned this attachment was.  It was a very fun summer, and I kept those ducks for several years during which they never lost their love for me.

God has placed so many picturesque lessons into nature to teach us of His ways and how we are to live in relationship to Him.
God has wired our brains in the same way as He wired the little ducks.  The very first information that we receive - on any subject - becomes our 'truth' and it is very hard to change. The first 'rut' is very deep and it becomes 'the law' by which all subsequent information is judged.

Since the mother duck is sitting on her eggs until they hatch, it is almost a given that the first thing the ducklings will see is their mother.  But if the mother duck is not there, the little duckling could be in real trouble as to who or what will move first in its line of vision and become the 'authority' in their life - be it good or bad.

This is why God gave the commandment in Deuteronomy 6:6,7
God was instructing His people regarding the commandments they would need to obey to live safe and happy lives in good relationship with God and each other.
This is what He commanded regarding their children.

  "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." 

The first thing the children were to learn was God's word, The parents  were to be so diligent in teaching them, it was to be the FIRST thing the children heard in the morning, and the LAST thing they heard at night , and the ONLY thing they heard as they walked through their day. 

Few, if any,  of us have grown up, or lived our adult life,  with God's truth being our first truth on every subject.  Those deep 'ruts of first truths' are often  dug by worldly opinion or advice or are simply self-determined.  

But all is not lost -  God has a plan "B".  He tells us to 'renew' our minds, to seek out that which is not God's truth and replace it with what His word teaches. 

 And do not be conformed to this world, 

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 

Rom 12:2