Edinburgh
Yesterday, as my husband & I were making the country drive back home from church, we saw one of the largest gaggles of flying geese we've ever seen. It was amazing & beautiful. I could hardly take my eyes off of it.
However, something unusual caught my attention. As there were SO many geese, their pattern kept changing; going from a huge V, to several smaller Vs, to more fluid forms that looked like swirling eddies in the sky. I made the observation to my husband that it appeared that there were "too many chiefs & not enough Indians"! lol Have you ever heard that old saying? It means that there are too many people wanting to be the leader & so, even though the job eventually gets done, not knowing who to follow & getting so many mixed messages makes the job harder to do & takes longer to accomplish.
That seemed to be how their flight pattern was going. I thought how they looked more like ducks than geese!
Have your ever noticed how flying geese are usually so seemingly calm & fly so effortlessly? While ducks seem to fly all over the place & all their honking & quacking seems to say, "Excuse me! Pardon me! Ooops, sorry! Excuse me, I can't stop, here I come! Get outta the way!" They can be pretty comical, if you watch.
But yesterday's geese were losing their 'pattern' & were flying more like ducks. It seemed they were trying to hear the call of a real leader. Oh, I have no doubt that they will eventually get to wherever they're going, but the trip will probably be fraught with lost time, honks of ingratitude & some ruffled tail feathers!
Sounds like us, doesn't it?
Everyone needs the leadership that only God, through His Son Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, can give. Oh, we might 'follow' certain favorite writers, favorite T.V./radio/internet preachers; but if we are not being 'good Bereans' (Acts 17:11) & weighing everything by the measure of Scripture, we will be flying haphazardly like those geese who were listening for the leader while those other wanna-be leaders are greedily honking, "follow me!"..."No! Follow me!", & we end up being just like a bunch of awkward ducks...or those geese, listening for someone ~ anyone ~ to follow & taking our family along for a rough ride filled w/lost time & feelings of failure & mistrust.
Silly goose, there's only One true Leader, only One true Shepherd. Let us train our ears to hear His voice & follow.
Blessings from Ohio...Kim<><
Such a wonderful parallel, Kim! Isn't it special how and when God shows us those things in nature! Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteexcellent post! So true. I am working really hard to try to go to Jesus before man. There are so many great resources (like you mentioned) but we have to go to God first.
ReplyDeleteKim this was excellent!! Loved the typology - I'm sometimes a bit of a silly goose myself :-(
ReplyDeleteThanks for these really good words.
blessings..Trish
The vision of the mixed up, ducks flying in haphazard disarray is hilarious, but.....
ReplyDeleteIn defense of the ducks, mine seem to march along in quite an orderly fashion following their quacky leader to whatever mud puddle or corn field he leads. Of course, I don't know what they would do in the air, as they do not fly!