Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Paul wrote, “Watch your life and doctrine closely.” 1 Timothy 4:16, NIV

Henny Penny, my black hen;
She lays eggs for gentlemen.
Sometimes nine and sometimes ten
Henny Penny, my black hen.
Old nursery rhyme

Unlike the hen in the nursery rhyme, our black bantam hen prefers that the fruit of her labors do not go to feed gentlemen, or ladies, either, for that matter. So she hid her nest away where aforesaid nest robbers could not find her. However, the date of her last regular appearance was duly noted on the calendar, and twenty-one days later - the length of incubation for hen’s eggs - I was anticipating her reappearance with chicks.
Some of the other residents of the barn knocked over a few bales from the hay stack, and Lo! I spy a hen looking out at me from a crevice between the bales thus exposed to view. A quick check showed that chicks were indeed hatching. There were five at that time, with more eggs to go.
I left her for a time to finish her work. Cheeper(s) by the dozen - almost! She finally came out with eleven chicks. And I am positive she was smiling.
I am always amazed at the vitality of newly hatched chicks. Once the entire clutch of eggs has hatched, mama hen has them on the go. She will typically hunt for food almost immediately, as she has been fasting since the first egg started to hatch. At first, they stay pretty much under mama’s feathers, and she guards them well. Soon, however, it is scratch and cluck, a special mama hen cluck, that means, “Dinner is served.” The chicks dive after the choice bit of food she has uncovered.
This is the time I most enjoy, watching as they learn about the world around them. I put out a chick water bottle for them to drink, and sat back to watch. They cocked their heads, and examined this new intruder into their world, but did not recognize it for what it was - a source of water. Finally, mama hen went to the waterer, dipped in her beak, and tipped back her head. Quick as scat, eleven little chicks were around that waterer, dipping and tipping!
While chicks are drawn to mama hen’s cluck, it is her actions that model proper behavior and relationships to things in the world around them.
Lest we forget, our own little ones, children and grandchildren, learn quickly from what we do, both good and bad. Our words may inform, but our actions demonstrate what really matters. We need to “model the message” in our culture that runs so contrary to Christian beliefs. We are to be living examples, not only to youth, but to the world as a whole. Read Paul's letters to Timothy, and “be diligent in these matters.”
August 8, 2004

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* Roosters
* Scripture: Paul wrote, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” Ephesians 5:25, NKJV

It’s time to have a little talk about -
Roosters!
The males of domestic fowl, roosters, do far more than sit on the barn roof, crow at dawn, and preen their feathers. They are a very active presence in the flock.
I’ve been observing about twenty chickens as they roam the barnyard area, pretty much free to do whatever chickens do. This is a mixed flock, including small bantams and larger ‘heavy’ breeds, so I think the sample size is large and diverse enough that the behaviors I will describe apply to roosters in general.
Yes, roosters do crow, at any time throughout the day, and they also cackle, cluck, and sing various chicken songs.
Roosters will often try out a nest before entrusting it to their favorite hen companion, and then stand guard duty while the hen lays her egg. Both then announce their pride over the freshly laid egg with gusto - a raucous cackling and sing-song ode to joy.
I once watched as two hens with chicks got into a territorial spat. A rooster quickly intervened, and sent them on their way, a peacekeeper, no less! Roosters can also be very protective and aggressive, especially if something threatens one of the flock.
I got to thinking about the positive attributes of the rooster in chicken society as I observed a rooster find a tasty morsel under the bird feeder, and then allow the hen to come over and pick it up, rather than eat it himself.
Now that rooster doesn’t even read, let alone read the Bible! Yet that bird, in a natural state, embodied many of the things that the Bible tells us we should do to emulate Christ. To paraphrase Jesus, talking about parents giving gifts to children, in Matthew 7:11, If even a rooster can do these things, how much more will the Heavenly Father do good things for you!
(Note that the Golden Rule is given in the following verse, Mt. 7:12, concerning doing for others as you would have them do for you.)
We sometimes hear the excuse that people who are rough and rowdy are just being ‘natural’. The next time that someone pulls that line on you, just tell them that even a rooster does better than that.
Take time to read Ephesians chapters 5 and 6, as well as Peter’s advice on the matter, 1 Peter, chapter 3.
Living together in harmony is sometimes a tough challenge. We need all the help we can get, even from a rooster.
April 24, 2005