Rescue. No drama. No trauma.

If I've learned anything by having chickens it's that it does absolutely no good to chase a chicken. They will stay just out of your reach and keep going. Calm must be the attitude of the moment when I need to get one of my girls back into the fold, otherwise, it is an exercise in futility. Ask me how I know.

I have one little white hen, Gloriana, who regularly escapes from the chicken pen. Sometimes she has a friend with her but more often than not she's by herself. She pecks around the yard, investigates the stuff under the oak leaves right next to the pen and sometimes she goes into Byron's workshop and roosts on one of his benches. She's very social and loves to see what everyone is doing.

Yesterday, my little escapee, flew the coop (so that's where that comes from!) 4 times. Maybe she was being treated unfairly by the other chickens. Maybe she wasn't getting as much of the feed as she wanted. I don't know exactly what happened, but she left, and that's when I'd go out, capture her, put her back in the pen, go back into the house, look out the window and see she was out again! Gloriana never causes trouble outside the pen. She stays fairly close and just moseys and pecks but I get concerned about other animals chasing her or hurting her. It seems to be my worry, though, not hers.

When I go outside to put her back into the pen, I walk slowly toward her and talk softly to her like I've done ever since we got them back in October.

"Hi, honey."

"What are you doing?"

"You gonna come see your Mama?"

"I love you, honey."

When I get about 20 feet from her, I stop, bend way down, and continue to talk softly to her. That's when she comes running over to me to see what I'm doing. She loves her Mama and always comes running. Now, I could try to pick her up then but she'd probably bolt and run, so after she's a little closer, I get up and walk slowly toward the pen, talking all the time. A little closer in, I bend down again and sweet talk her some more. That's when she comes to me, I pet her on her belly and she comes closer so I can pick her up firmly, not harshly, and hold her close to me. I stroke her head and long neck gently, talking sweetly all the time. If I were rough with her or yelled at her, I'd have a much harder time taking her back to safety. She would soon learn not to come to me at all. But, I don't do things that way. We walk calmly to the pen where I set her gently over the fence and she flies down into the pen. No drama. No trauma.

I noticed some similarity between my experience with Gloriana and how the Lord often treats us. In our own "wisdom" sometimes we ignore danger and leave the safety of our faith to pick and probe around in the world, looking for the next tasty morsel. The Lord faithfully comes after us time and time again, calling our name, beckoning us with kindness and love to come back to safety, to come back to Him. He doesn't yell and chase us around. He walks along side of us, persuading us to choose right. The Holy Spirit woos us in love and when we surrender, when we allow Him to pick us up, He gently soothes our ruffled feathers. He calms us and carries us to His chosen safety, which is better than any illusion of safety we might have devised for ourselves.

Luke 19:10 The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost." I'm so glad the Lord seeks after us.

I know. I know. Chickens are chickens and people are people, but sometimes the Lord uses the really simple things in my everyday experiences to show me His beauty--His infinite love for us--and I love Him for it.

Thank you, Lord for allowing me to learn about You in the subtleties of my life. I appreciate all the times you've come after me in my foolishness and wooed me back into safety and fellowship with You. I love how you keep it simple for me and how you drop your word into my heart and mind as easy as pie. I love you so very much.

Suz