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/

* Mama's Wings
* Scripture: Jesus said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." Mt. 23:37, NKJV

I honestly don't know what possessed her to do what she did. I know for a fact she wasn't taking scripture into account. Actually, I was surprised that anything good came out of her efforts. But there they were - seven baby chicks hatched out on the 3rd of March - well out of the usual season!
There is indeed a time and a season for everything, and that white hen was certainly rushing things a wee bit. Perhaps the un-seasonably warm temperatures during the month of January threw her biological clock off schedule. Never-the-less, she stuck with her task; she stayed the course.
It takes three weeks for eggs to hatch once the hen starts setting (incubating.) She had fifteen eggs under her - I think some of the other hens contributed - but that still means she started laying eggs for her clutch back in January. Eggs can, and do, freeze, and the temperatures during that time period were in the teens and twenties many times. That accounts for the many that didn't hatch.
Spring is a much more appropriate time to start a chicken family. Baby chicks have to be kept warm. Mother hens certainly make every effort to do that, but in the dead of winter? The chicks can't stay under mamma all of the time. They need to come out for both nourishment and water, and water is hard to come by when the prevailing temperatures turn such resources icy solid.
I will say this much for her; that hen was persistent both in season and out; she stayed on those eggs. Now, she covers her brood with her wings, both Biblical expressions. (See 2 Timothy 4:2; Luke 13:34)
I suppose that there might be hens that are poor mothers, but most of our bantams are fiercely protective of their little ones. Move close, and she goes on full alert. Move closer and you will learn that the beak is quite useful for things other than eating!
Would that all 'people' parents were so dedicated. Most are, I know, but doesn't it break your heart when you read the headlines or watch the news about neglect, abuse and violence concerning children?
Then, consider what would happen if the chicks didn't WANT to gather under mama's wings during this cold, frigid weather. What a disappointment for the hen.
Even today, Jesus' lament holds true; "How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."
What a disappointment!
March 12. 2006

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

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

Scripture: Jesus said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. John 13:15, NIV

Scripture: Paul said, “For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.” Acts 17:28, NIV
Sometimes partial or inaccurate information can be worse than no information at all. Reporting a news story with the names of those involved mixed up, or the events distorted, may not only confuse people, but also bring long-term agony to the subjects of the report.
We’ve all seen or read them - maybe! The “Corrections” buried deep within the news that most people miss. Perhaps it was the reporter’s error, for not getting all the information. It may have been one of the subjects interviewed for the story who gave misleading information. After all, people generally want to give a good impression of themselves; many have been known to ‘stretch’ the truth a little - in their favor, of course.
Perhaps you have watched one of those “wonder” advertisements for some tool or object. “It slices, it dices . . .”, you know the type. The wonder gadget is not only described in glowing terms, but demonstrated right before your eyes! “Got to have one of those,” people say. The real wonder is why you bought the wonder gadget in the first place.
Incomplete information. Misrepresentation. Just sloppy reporting. All can have a detrimental effect on the person looking for “the facts, sir, just the plain facts.” We expect the truth in a court of law. If you’ve ever sat on a jury, especially a domestic relations case, you know one side isn’t telling all the truth. “The whole truth” is sometimes missing.
Now, we wouldn’t deliberately mislead people would we? Of course not. After all, we are Christians, and we know that Christ didn't lie. Hmmm!?! It is said that figures don’t lie, but liars can figure! We all know that statistics tell the truth, now don’t we? Harry Truman said that statistics is one of the most outrageous forms of lying.
When a hen cackles, does it mean she is laying, or is she lying? We have had a rooster who cackled just like a hen. While he might have been proud of his ‘ladies.’ it wasn’t his egg.
So when a Christian ‘cackles,’ is he lying or laying? Are we truthfully making known The One whom we are representing? People eventually ‘read’ all of our life, not just the events we include, not just the way we wish they would read it.
We can present all the statistics on our life, we can describe our Christliness in glowing terms, we can point to Christ as the Lord of All, but unless people can read our story fully and openly without causing either of us to blush, we have sadly missed the mark!
November 11, 2001