Last night, Chris went out to put our chickens in their coop. It’s something we have to do every night. While we’re at it, we count to make sure all 11 are safely roosted inside. After counting multiple times, he continued to see only 10. We were just about to sit down for dinner, so I was inside finishing meal prep when he told me we were down one. As the kiddos settled into a warm meal, we both headed outside to look for our missing girl.
We followed snowy tracks all around, but to avail. It was freezing, dark, and windy.
From what we could tell, there was no sign of struggle, blood, or ruffled feathers. After what seemed like forever, we finally called it quits for the night. As we came inside to work on warming up, I could not stop worrying about whether she was OK. We live near a coyote den, and we also have an abundance of foxes, opossums, skunks, and owls that also prey on chickens. The thought of her being out on her own all night was scary.
Chris woke up bright and early and headed outside to look for her. He sent me this picture of our girl near our neighbor’s home. She was back and safe at that!
Even though she’s just a chicken, it reminded me so much of us in our human nature. We wander away from God, without a struggle, but by our own freewill. We find ourselves doing life “on our own” believing that everything really rests upon our own strength. Trust me: I’ve been there. In that, we don’t really know or understand the danger of being separated from our Father.
Jesus told a story about a similar situation in Matthew 18. He said, “What do you think? If a man has 100 sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the 99 on the hillside and go and search for the stray? And if he finds it, I assure you: He rejoices over that sheep more than over the 99 that did not go astray. In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish” (Matthew 18:12-14).
Although it may seem like we have everything “under control” on our own, we know from John 15:5 that “Jesus is the vine; we are the branches. The one who remains in Him and He in us produces much fruit, because we can do nothing without Him.” And though it feels like we’ve got this on our own, the reality is it’s not if we find trouble on our own, friends, it’s when.
If you’re out there on your own, know that God’s still waiting for you to return to Him: to return home. When you do, you won’t be greeted with “I can't believe you left!” rather you'll be embraced with, “Welcome home, my treasured child. I’ve been waiting for you.”
The work has been finished: Jesus died for each of us. It’s only up to each of us to accept the gift of salvation that is offered through the cross.
As we head into a weekend, I’m praying you stay warm not only in the physical sense, but also in your walk with the Lord.
Comments