Ninjas in the Henhouse

-

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. JohannaJune 10, 2012 at 7:24 AM

    Kinda thought you might!!

    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

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Old Houses

-
Image
I love old houses. I feel really sad to see them like this. To me this house is still beautiful, still majestic. I imagine all the rooms. All the detailed woodwork and moulding inside, the stairway, the high ceilings and old fixtures that are still intact. Like doorknobs, locks and hinges. Probably some of the original glass is still in the windows. At one point someone must have really loved this house.  This is a storybook house. It reminds me of the "The Secret Garden." It's tucked away and hidden. I can imagine myself wandering through the woods and stumbling upon it. Then bringing paint and other things to fix it up. I read a book once when I was a kid about a girl who found a house and did that, but I can't remember the name. When I see a house like this, it makes me think of the little farm family that once lived here. If I try hard enough I can still see kids running through the yard laughing and mama hanging clothes on the line. Simpler times, simpl
Read more

Connections

-
Image
Recently, I reconnected with a man I haven't seen in years through Facebook, of course! I saw these bright blue eyes staring out at me from his profile picture, a face that looked so familiar, but I couldn't place this person. I noticed my aunt was a mutual friend, and so I accepted his request after examining his wall. Then I quickly hopped onto chat to ask my aunt how I knew this guy. She guessed from school or a concert--but I knew that wasn't the case. After accepting his request, and bombarding my aunt with questions, he came on and started chatting with me. I was a bit embarrassed that I couldn't remember just how I knew him, but he so graciously filled me in on the details and it all flooded back. We were not Christians when we'd stop and chat on the main street sidewalk, in front of the comic book shop where he worked. We didn't know each other well, but I remember him being a pleasant person. We were living our own lives the best we knew how, longing
Read more