May 2024

This morning, I watched Mama Duck and her baby ducklings go for an early swim. Mama Duck went this way and that, making sure the ducklings stayed in line. She bobbed up and down. The ducklings did the same. Next, Mama Duck jumped up on land, foraged a bit, moved this way and that, and sat down for a rest. The ducklings did the same.  Truly an eventful morning.

I enjoy watching my backyard ducks.  I sit with my coffee and Mama Duck and her ducklings sit with their chipping and chirping. The longer we do this, the more I find myself envying their simple life.

Think about it. They just float around all day. They live off the land and move from pond to pond. It seems like theirs would be a pretty darn good existence. 

I wonder if the ducks might be looking at me and thinking the same thing. I mean, like really, it’s not like I till the land for my food or suffer outside in the Arizona heat! When I am hungry, I go to my refrigerator and get food, when I get hot, I go inside.  When I am bored, I flip through the channels or hop in my car and get out of town. 

Isn’t that true for almost all of us?  Our lives are EASY.  Gone are the days of a rugged existence.  We have technology and modern conveniences doing most of what we used to call “work”.  Yet, all kinds of things bring us stress these days- money, professional sports, health, politics, international wars, and the ever-present evilness in seemingly every aspect of our lives.

Today with the ducks, I saw hope. I saw a mama caring for her babies. I saw the sweetness of simplicity. I saw God’s hand working in His creation. It felt good to see something so simple and serene.  So good in fact, that I stopped and thanked God. It was a vivid reminder for me that God is working amid our broken world. 

In 2011, Tom did a lesson from the book of Daniel which he brings home, in a way that only Tom could do, the lesson that God is doing something, whether or not we see it.  God is good. He is always working for our good and His glory:

https://www.prioritylivingaz.org/audio-archives/2011/4/21/personal-values-and-professional-ethics

I hope you’ll take some time to listen to this powerful and “quintessential Tom” lesson.

But wait!  I’m not letting YOU (or me) off the hook. Our response to God’s grace, as Christians, is to reflect Jesus’ light in this dark world.  We get, in gratitude for all God has given to us, to demonstrate and illuminate God’s love, His hope, and His truth in everything we do.  We are called to be holy and set apart from the world.

So, as one day turns to the next, how are you showing the world hope?  Do the people around you see something different in you and/or the way you do life? I hope so.  Just like the little ducklings watching their mama, the world is watching you. Let’s all be an example of God’s love, truth, and hope.  No matter what lion’s den we are in.