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/

Scripture: “Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.” Mt. 13:34, NIV

The Story of The Prodigal Rooster and the Good Samaritan
Once upon a time last week, a Farmer separated the hens in his flock of chickens from all the roosters but one, who, like King Solomon of old, had a harem of five lovely lady hens. This was done to fulfill the expectation that the hens would prove to be good and faithful servants.
Daily, the wife of the Good Farmer would go to the hen harem and examine the nests, proclaiming loudly, “Where’s the EGGS?” Seeing none, she protested to the Good Farmer, who said, “Be patient, allow more time. I will feed them and water them for a time, and if they do not produce, then we can talk about chicken and noodles.”
The Prodigal Rooster left his bretheran roosters and arose to a perch above the harem. While admiring the hens, he was let down through the ceiling. He was pounced upon and badly beaten up by the guardian of the harem, in which condition the Good Samaritan Farmer found him. The Good Farmer gave him food and drink, and placed him in an Inn Cage over night. The farmer patched the hole in the chicken wire ceiling, and moved the wounded rooster, whose name is Capo (because his feathers form a beautiful coat of many colors on his back) to another barn, where he spent two days eating and drinking.
Then, he disappeared! The Good Farmer did seek for him, but did not find. He asked the sheep, dog, and cat residents of the barn, but did not receive an answer. Capo was given up for lost.
Then, while keeping watch over the flocks by evening, Lo! What should appear but a rooster, his silvery cape shining in the light! Exclaimed the Good Farmer, “My rooster, which was dead, is now alive!” And he went and reported to the housewife, “Rejoice with me, the lost rooster is found!”
To which she replied, “Still no chicken and noodles?”

REFERENCES (required reading)
The Sheep & Goats: Mt. 25:31-36
King Solomon’s Wives: 1 Kings 11:1-3
Good, Faithful Servants: Mt. 25:21
The Barren Fig Tree: Luke13:6-9
The Prodigal Son: Luke 15:11-32
The Good Samaritan: Luke 10:30-37 The Coat of Many Colors: Genesis 37:3
Seek and Find: Luke 11:9
Shepherds: Luke 2:8,9
The Lost and Found: Luke 15:3-6; 8, 903

January 19, 2003