Ducks

Even the ducks have to go down under for nourishment. As I sat watching at the ducks paddle their way around the cove of the lake... it occurred to me that we only can see their surface image....we can't see those legs and those webbed feet moving and guiding their destination. And when they are hungry they go under cover to retrieve their meal. And once satisfied...they return to the surface.

So many times we are bombarded with events in our lives that send us undercover. But too many times we go undercover without searching and reaching for the nourishment that God has provided for us while we are there....We pop back up to the surface without any real evidence that our needs and our wounds have been properly taken care of...and we continue to swim aimlessly about on the surface of the world's display...and forfeit the chance for added strength, or widsom or direction. God is with us in the darkened down under. He knows our needs even before we do....he knows our hearts and knows our longings, he knows our disappointments and he knows our fears and the trials that are before us. But we can only swim around on the surface for so long before we run out of steam and need a hit of encouragement and nourishment from God himself.

But just how long do we go without realizing it? We are can do creatures....and we try as hard as we may to do what we may to get results that are satisfactory for our own gains...emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. But we are not Holy qualified to get Holy results without Holy help....God just made us that way becasue he wants to be a loving and providing part of each of our lives.

We live our lives similar to those ducks....we swim around, paddling around....and only allow people to see what is on our surface...thinking we are hiding the underneath even from God...and then when waters get rough we turn the paddle gears up to full throttle....hoping we can overcome the waves of frustration and disappointment and recognition from onseerers that we are needing a little help. And just like the ducks...when people get a little to close we want to fly away and not allow anyone to get too close...for they might see what we really are all about..and then what?

Well, God does see what we are really all about....and he loves us in spite of ourselves to His very core. We do have to go down under in the quietness of our souls to be able to hear HIs whispers, and accept His love and listen to his call. God has the uncanny ability to give us all teh strength that we need, all the provisions that we need, and all the grace that we need to paddle through life His way. And if we trust Him to be there when not just when we need him but when we are on still waters as well....he will show us His is faithful. But we must have faith in HIM!

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Acts 17:26-28 (New International Version)

26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Ducks swim, and paddle, and hunt and fly... they go down under when they need a little nourishment....and come up when they have been successful in their hunt. We are clearly not ducks...but it was just interesting to observe their habits and their ways and consider how it is that they get along just fine...in the simplicity of their everyday portions of nourishment. If only I would take the same amount of time each day to go hunting for God's word, or God's direction so that I would be able to maintain a peaceful countenance....under His grace...Oh how calm I too would be.... and I would be able to glide my way through the life that God has given me in peace. It is when I try to paddle my way through trials alone, without asking for God's help that I get my feathers all ruflfled up....and try to fly away from all the noise and chaos...without any resolution.

Dear Lord, Help me to be able to remain calm on the surface of life and learn to paddle according to your speed. And Lord, when I am in need of nourishment help me to take time to go to a quiet place and seek your face....and not keep on skimming on the top of a situation that is way beyond my control. Amen