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: There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many? (John 6:9, NKJV)

Be prepared! That's the motto of the Boy Scouts.
"Be prepared for what?" someone once asked Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting,
"Why, for any old thing." said Baden-Powell. (1)
Jesus and a lad, just two people out of a crowd of thousands, seem to embody that motto, centuries before Baden Powell founded Boy Scouting. John 6:6 states that Jesus knew what He would do. The lad had five barley loaves and two small fish. His lunch, perhaps? We can only surmise the purpose, and whether the lad was with an adult in that desert place, but the disciple Andrew spotted the food, and added the pessimistic comment, “But what are they among so many?”
At least Andrew did a survey of available edibles; Phillip’s thoughts were on money, noting that two hundred denarii worth of bread would not feed the multitude. Assuming, of course, that there was a convenient bakery near the desert location, which, of course, there wasn’t.
To put the amount of money needed in perspective, a laborer typically made a denarii a day. How many people, even today, are willing to give up an entire day’s income to share with a few hundred other people? But the lad was willing to donate his lunch for the cause.
And that food was apparently not as large as we might imagine, thinking of terms of the modern mega store. Salty little fish, about the size of a sardine. Loaves more like a large biscuit, the size of a bun. Just a snack for a small boy, not something that would feed a few thousand people.
Prepared? No way! Jesus and His disciples were trying to get away from the crowds for a little much needed rest. The crowd surged after them on impulse, seeking the healing He proffered, even in a desert place. No thought for food, no time to grab a picnic lunch. Go! Follow The Teacher, The Healer. Seize the moment! Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t I?
Five thousand men, plus women and children. That is a lot of box lunches, a challenge for any caterer, even just to distribute them in an orderly manner. “Send them away,” the disciples advised. “Feed them,” Jesus countered.
Feed them? With what - one growing boy’s lunch? Just imagine how that surging multitude might react if you even hint of handing out a limited amount of food to people that haven’t had a bite for most of the day. First come, first served. Get it before it is gone!
“May we have your lunch, son? Jesus wants it.”
“Hey! Mom prepared that for me. Let those people get their own lunch . . .”
The entire process was orderly. The people sat down, and the disciples served them. What a wondrous sight! All because one person gave what he had.
Jesus had compassion on the multitudes. Did the lad? We can only guess. We know that he didn’t go hungry, for all were filled and satisfied. And there were many baskets full left over.
Do we come to Jesus for sustenance, for healing? It is appropriate that we do, for He is able, and compassionate. Never underestimate His power to take even the little that we have to share and do wondrous things, beyond our limited imagination.

(1)http://www.macscouter.com/advance/boyscout/bsmotto.asp