When God Gives You Ducks

Not swans, but ducks. And actually, I have always been quite fond of ducks for some reason. I think they’re funny little characters; the way they waddle, quack, turn their necks to watch you, and even wag their tails. In fact, a bird watcher at heart they really do amuse me; ducks, and I don’t know why. Maybe it has something to do with growing up in Oregon and the way the rain rolls off their backs. Or maybe it’s the way they seem to go about their business, not really bothered by anything but just completely happy and yet at the same time completely oblivious. Ya, ducks. When God gives you ducks.

It was just the other day when I came out of my apartment building that much to my surprise their were three ducks parked just outside my door, nestled around a tree adjacent to our community pond. I stopped, “ducks!” I exclaimed and of course all three of them turned to look at me.

I have always since moving here wished that our pond had some ducks that lived in it. We have fish, a family of turtles, and thankfully no alligators, well, at least not yet anyway, but ducks? We haven’t had any ducks until, well, just the other day and when I saw them I knew (for need of cheering up) that they were a gift and I said, “thank you, God,” because He knows just how much I love them. Ya, ducks.

Well, quickly I ran back inside, grabbed some pieces of bread and came back out to feed them. They seemed grateful too, like, “hey, maybe this won’t be such a bad place to hang.” And again I had to laugh, watching as they wagged there tails, fighting for who was going to get that last crumb and you know what? I think ever since then I’ve become their new “best” friend because now if they see me, they come waddling. Gee, imagine that! Ya, when God gives you ducks. Not swans, but ducks and what do you do when God gives you ducks?

I think most of us if we’re honest, we’re waiting for swans, but what happens when instead, God gives us ducks? Are we so set on swans that we miss the blessing? our eyes so focused on what we thought was due us? Or… do we see? that even in something that may not appear to be all we’d hoped for that God still has something good for us underneath? Ya, ducks. And I think for the most part God is more apt to give us ducks. Swans? Swans require of us nothing. But ducks? Ducks require that we change; asking God to change our line of vision so that we can then see His intended blessing. Hmmm. Maybe it’s when God gives us ducks that that’s exactly what He’s after in the first place; something in us He wants to change.

Just something to think about next time you find ducks on your doorstep with a note that reads, “I’m just trying to teach you something… Love, God.”

This is an old post I never got around to posting (I have a lot of those) and after reading through some of them this one really spoke to me. Yes, lessons from my own writing but still, a good reminder when things don’t always turn out the way we hoped they would.

No matter what, God is always working.