I close the ducks inside their pen at night so they can eat in peace and lay their eggs in a safe place – where Jethro can’t help himself to breakfast. Every evening, I shake their food and call out to the ducks and they follow me into the pen. I have used this pen and followed this night time routine for as long as I’ve had the ducks.
The heat must be making the goats itchy. The goats are using the chicken wire panels of the duck pen as a scratching post. They rub up against the wire until until the staples yield and the wire pops out of the wooden frame. Repairing the duck pen fence is on my “to do” list today.
I put the ducks into the pen as usual last night even though a whole fence panel was down. I wasn’t sure if they would stay in the pen since they could just walk out through the open wall. But they did – stay in.
They stayed in the pen and waited for me to open the door to let them out this morning. Silly ducks! They are so comfortable with their routine that they didn’t change it, even though the could.
Do you ever do that? Are you so fixed in the familiar, so comfortable with the conventional, so cozy in your customs – that you don’t/won’t try something new? Habits, discipline, routines… are important skills to develop for SO many reasons. But so are flexibility, creativity and sensitivity.
When we make up our minds about something, we tend to close our mind to that “chapter”. We stop thinking about it. The problem comes when we realize that God isn’t finished with us yet. We may have learned something we needed for a season, but oh my…there are so many life experiences still to come – growth and strength and intimacy with Him comes with the new learning. We can’t shut ourselves off and close our book before He is done!
There may have been a season where God placed you in the “holding pen” for safety, for healing, for humility? But look! The pen is open. It’s time to come out and explore…there is something new waiting for you! And you don’t want to miss it.
“For this reason, since the day we have heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” Col. 1:9-10
