Ninjas in the Henhouse

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Several weeks ago, we had six baby chicks hatch. There are two mama hens, so I'm not sure which babies went with which mama. But that didn't seem to bug them, they just cared for all of them together in the chicken coop. Aww...so precious. There's just nothing as sweet as seeing a hen gently caring for her chicks. Don't you think?

And that reminded me of a song I used to do for the babies in our Cradle Roll class at church. We'd have a nice, stuffed hen up in front of the room and each child would have a cute, little chick to bring up to the mama hen and put it snuggly under her wings at the appropriate time.

I have never had chickens before, except those stuffed ones in Sabbath school. So that was the sweet picture I'd think of when I'd read these verses in the Bible--


"....How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings....” Matthew 23:37

And...

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4

Yes, I would have a warm and fuzzy feeling as I thought of God gently providing shelter, protection and warmth to us, just like the sweet mama hen did for her babies. My picture of chickens mostly stemmed from my experience with the stuffed hens and chicks from my class.

Until one day when...

I decided that I would go and hold one of the precious balls of yellow fluff. I could almost feel it's downy feathers in my hands and hear the "peep, peep" of the newly hatched chick. Ahh...so sweet. I couldn't wait.  I went into the chicken coop and reached my hand toward one of the little chicks and all of a sudden Mama Hen fluffed out her wings. Oh I thought, she must be doing that to sort of call them to come under her wings--just like in our Cradle Roll class. But then she suddenly began spinning and beating my legs with her wings! OUCH! She was going balistic!! She was also pecking me--REALLY HARD!!! She was one tough mama!!! The other hen was furiously flying and jumping around, both were squawking like mad! And I was just trying to get out of there!! I made it to the door and Rooster was outside--pretty much acting crazy like the hens. I opened it and kicked at him to shoo him away. Finally outside the coop, I took a minute to pull myself together. Needless to say, my romanticised version of the little Mama Hen was forever shattered. Nope she was NOT what I expected! Mama Hen was a ninja!!!

And that got me thinking again about that verse in the Bible...

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4

No longer did I only see the gentle "Cradle Roll" version--no, I saw the "crazy-ninja-mama-hen---don't you mess with my babies!!!!" version!!

God means business when He says He will cover us with His feathers and in Him we will find refuge. I now understand what it means when it says--His faithfulness will be your shield!

So if you're up against something hard today, just know--GOD'S GOT YOUR BACK.

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14

Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you. Deuteronomy 3:22

Comments

  1. CassandraJune 9, 2012 at 11:11 PM

    I love this post!! I mostly think of the cradle roll version of this text but your imagery is so true! How awesome. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. JohannaJune 9, 2012 at 11:33 PM

    Thank you, Cassandra!!! It was more pleasant writing this post than getting beat up by the chicken!! Glad I could share it. I just never knew how extremely protective mama hens are. Mama bears, sure, but just never imagined this!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pam...June 10, 2012 at 5:53 AM

    :) I know what you mean!

    ReplyDelete
  4. hopefulvoyageoflife.blogspot.comJuly 4, 2012 at 12:35 PM

    Really enjoyed this post. I too, raise chickens and ducks. This morning, as I was clipping their wings, I was nailed repeatedly by their talons, beaks, and bills! Interestingly, I don't have any new peeps just yet. But, give it another two months or so, and I'm sure things will change, hopefully after the new poultry house is completed. I too am glad that like the mama hen, God's got our backs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JohannaJuly 5, 2012 at 2:51 AM

      Thank you! You sound like you're doing a wonderful job with your chickens and ducks...sure it won't be too long and you'll have lots of little ones running around!

      Delete

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