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Mother Duck…

By April 28, 2016August 30th, 2022Devotional

Today was something of a lazy day. I had several telephone conferences early this morning, but before noon I was in the sports car driving along the back roads of Indiana just communing with nature and spending a little time by myself. We have lived in the area for almost 34 years, but with the continuing development of the neighborhoods, there are still a number of places that I am unfamiliar with.

A friend of mine has just taken up the sport of fly fishing and I decided to scout a couple of locations so we can try our luck at new places close to home. We live near, but not on, the White River, and there are a number of fisherman who swear that it is the place to catch white bass. But I wouldn’t know as I have never caught one!

I was intent on driving to several different places and was beginning to lose sight of my reflective time when all of a sudden everything was brought back into crystal clear focus. I saw something that I am sure all of us have seen many times – a mother duck crossing the road. Of course, especially at this time of year, one would expect to have an entire brood of ducklings following mom… But what really caught my attention today was the fact that there was only one duckling – and an incredibly small one at that.

I am not a good judge of age when it comes to looking at ducks, but this little one was barely able to walk and every few steps fell down and rolled one way or the other. When they came out of the grass and started to cross the street, I happened to be in the first car – so after I stopped I had a front row seat watching the drama unfold. Traffic in the other direction was still moving at speed and I was very concerned that this duckling could end up with a very short life. To say nothing of the pain of falling and rolling numerous times on the asphalt street.

Shortly, traffic in the other direction slowed and finally stopped, waiting for mom and her young’un to finish their journey to the other side. As I said earlier, I have seen this type of action unfold many times. But it impacted me in a different way today. I think because I wasn’t distracted by an entire brood of ducklings. One mother – one duckling. And that little one was totally focused on mom. I mean totally focused. It didn’t matter where the cars where or how close the two ducks came to getting hit. The only thing on the mind of that duckling was making sure that it stayed as close to mom as it could.

When the duckling fell, mom waited patiently and then continued her journey. And all I could think of the whole time was how we are to act the same way when it comes to our faith. We are to focus our eyes on God and not worry about the day to day distractions and dangers that can befall us. By totally trusting God, and keeping our eyes on Him, we are doing much the same thing as that duckling. Depending on something else to get us through safely.

The whole event just touched me in a very special way. As soon as the action was over, I couldn’t help but question my own faith and how closely I stick to the Father. I had a little reinforcement from that little duckling. It is important to make sure that I stay focused on the most important thing in my life – my walk with God.

The verse for this evening highlights the writer of the book of Hebrews. He tells us, in Hebrews 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Notice that we aren’t to gaze at Jesus, or glance at Him – we are to “fix” our eyes on Him. That means that we are to keep totally focused on every move that He makes. Just like that newborn duckling watching its mother.

My encouragement this evening is that God wants us to watch Him and is pleased when we model His behavior and the relationship that He has with His son, Jesus. My prayer is that you won’t grow weary of blindly following God. Because when you keep your eyes on Jesus, everything else will melt into the background and you can rest in the peace that total trust in Him brings. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

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