If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck …
Today one of my friends on Twitter posted the following tweet:
“I find that ducks’ opinion of me is greatly influenced by whether or not I have bread.”
If you’ve ever seen ducks at a park, they come running toward human beings in hope they’ve brought some bread crumbs. They can be very approachable and engaging if you have something to feed them. BUT, if you don’t, they quickly wander off, preferring instead to swim in the pond or otherwise do their own thing. They lose interest if there isn’t any bread.
I loved the tweet because it immediately made me think of how some Christians respond to Christ. We run to God when He has blessings for us, but we quickly lose interest when He isn’t bringing some goodies.
Yet, what do we bring to God? Why is it that we so often expect God to show up with a bundle of blessings for us? After all, who owes who?
We expect God to provide relationships that last and enrich, work that fulfills and prospers us, problem-free children, a constantly full pantry, a middle-class bank account, perfect traffic flow during rush hour, and health that gives long life and a pleasant death in our sleep when we’re the oldest citizen in our town.
But again, what do we bring God?
Scotty
April 9, 2010 at 8:07 pm
I had to laugh at this. I have a little flock of chickens, 7 hens and a rooster, who utterly adore me. But then again, I am rarely w/o a pocket full of bits of bread for them.
It's funny – anyone watching would think that I am their world, that they live and die for me. Any time during the day, if they so much as hear my voice, they all come running. And few things are funnier than a chicken half flying, half running across the lawn. Sometimes I open our upstairs window and call to them, and immediately all their little bobbing heads pop up and look in my direction, they drop what they are doing and run to where they think my voice is coming from. It looks like adoration. It looks like worship. It looks like true love. But what it is, is a pocket full of bread.
Sometimes I wonder if God doesn't leave His hand empty so that we will look past His hand to His face, if even only to ask where the goodies are. I know if my pockets run out of bread on a regular basis, by dear little chicks will lose interest in me. I pray that the same is not true of my love for God.
p.s I'm pretty sure my dog is going to love me forever, tho'. Sometimes I think, when I grow up I want to be just like my dog, that way…
April 9, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Beautifully stated, thanks for sharing!