If you come and visit my family at our homestead, you will quickly notice that my husband loves geese. Now, I don’t have any particular affection for these creatures. I find them, uppity, messy, loud and quite vindictive. If I had my way, and I’ve told them this, I would send them all to freezer camp. I honestly do not understand why my husband loves them – especially since the man is allergic to down. Perhaps he likes to live dangerously.
I have tried to muster love for these fowl, but it is difficult when they seem to only leave their droppings at my car door. They greet my husband every day with cheerful honks, but only seem to hiss at me. For some reason, they really enjoy nipping my ankles with their beaks when I walk by them.
Geese bring out intense nurturing instincts in my husband. In the Spring, we have not one, but two incubators full of goose eggs. He lovingly turns each egg to ensure proper development, sprays them with water to provide proper humidity, and mumbles sweet words to them every morning and evening. As the eggs begin to hatch, the goslings chirp and he bolsters them with encouraging words like, “You can do it” or “Don’t give up, little guy. You have to get out of there.” He has their calculated birthdates charted next to the incubators and will often call me from work to check on their progress.
So romantic, I know.
I read somewhere that goslings will bond with whoever touches them during the first 24 hours after they have hatched, so I am trying to imprint myself upon them. Perhaps this effort will save my ankles in the future. This Spring, two of the goslings hatched out with splayed legs. This condition is when the gosling’s legs are pointed outwards instead of under their body. They cannot move around to eat or drink in this condition. They just sort of flop on their backs and cheep a lot. The cure for this condition is to band-aid their legs together for a day or two. This forces the correct muscles to activate and grow so they can walk properly.
II Corinthians 4:17-18
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
While helping Shawn doctor these goslings, I began to think about how they must have felt. Obviously, they were uncomfortable. If they had higher reasoning, they would surely find our care illogical (They’re lame so why were we making it even more difficult for them to walk). Although counter-intuitive, it worked. Ryan (the gosling) and his sister have fully recovered. Friends, do you, like me, sometimes feel like these goslings? There are times when our heavenly Father puts us in uncomfortable, seemingly illogical circumstances because he wants to heal something in us – something we need healed to survive. While we might not understand his methods, we can always trust his intentions. So, be encouraged and let yourself heal.
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