What are ya, chicken?

I am sure all of us can remember hearing or saying this phrase as a youngster. Did you ever think about where that phrase may have come from? As a proud owner of chickens for the past few years, I have come to learn so much about these crazy birds. I never thought they could become like pets. I never thought I would actually have favorites and I never thought I would care so much about a bird. I am not as close to them as a dog , but I do find that I am trying my best to keep them safe, warm and well-fed. I enjoy gathering their eggs each day and they seem "happy" to see me. They have come to know my voice and are much less scared when I come in the hen house as opposed to someone from my family. They hear me on the steps before they see me. So until I speak or until I reach the top, they don't know who or what is coming.

In the past few years, I can honestly say, I have not a found a more scared creature. If their water jug gets knocked over, (by them!!!!), they will all stand on the other side of the room until I come to rescue them. If a door bangs or something downstairs drops, they run. If one runs, they all run. It doesn't matter the reason. If I change their shavings in the nesting boxes, they have to really check it all out before they feel "safe" with it. If I give a new fruit to them, it takes one to taste it and then they realize it must be safe. I understand more and more the phrase I titled today's blog, "What are ya, chicken?". They are scared of everything! Today, was no different and the reason for this week's post. If you aren't a fan of chickens, and you think my mind has flown the coop, feel free to log off and I will see you next week. :)

The birds have been penned inside for weeks. Now, let me be the first to say, my birds are spoiled. I understand and agree all chickens do not have to be outside. They are fine indoors. I have no hard or bad feelings for chickens that are caged inside. That said, my birds are used to going outside and have come to love the bugs and grass. In the spring, they will make themselves sick on all the treats they can find. Even over the winter months, I usually let them out for a few hours each afternoon if possible. If their waters freeze during the day, I will not let them out. Otherwise, out they go. So, imagine them being in for several weeks. Every day, I would go in the hen house they would run to their door, acting as if to say, "today is the day, surely today is the day, right?". No. I could hear them "fussing" whenever I was outside. Each day, they reminded me, each day the answer was no. Until today. The temps were to be in the 30's, so I decided to at least open the door and maybe put the screen across to at least let in fresh air and the sunshine. They were all so excited when the door, full of dust was pushed back and they all saw outside. They piled on top of one another, trying to be the first one outside.

Now, I have found that the one thing my chickens seem the most scared of, with the exception of a predator (fox, hawk, or eagle), is SNOW. They freak out! They don't know what to do with it. Do you walk on it? Do you walk through it? Do you eat it? And their feet get pink from the cold. They will stand in one spot and squawk until noticed. So, today, you can imagine what happened once the door they begged to have open, opened. I captures two pictures on my phone.

Wanting to come down the ramp.

They started down the ramp, but once they saw what was waiting for them at the bottom, they turned around and started back up, causing a traffic jam. They panicked. It wasn't at all outside like they thought it would be. A few brave ones stayed out for a brief moment, but then they went back inside. They were happy to be in the warm again and around feed and water. Outside didn't seem as exciting as it should have been.

What does this have to do with anything? Are we like that? Do we ask God every day to "open" a door for us. We come up with all the reasons why it would be a good idea. Do we "fuss and fuss", hoping to wear Him down, till He finally says yes? When the day comes and He finally opens a door, do we run ahead and expect things to be as we dreamed they would be, only to have reality hit us in the face. Hmmm, maybe this open door isn't as good as we thought it would be. Or maybe once this door is opened, we need to face a fear that in the past would have caused us to freeze in our tracks? I knew they would hate it outside. I knew they wouldn't go off of the ramp, but I was tired of the fussing and decided to give it a try. I don't know if God ever tires of our fussing, but I know that sometimes doors are opened so we learn a lesson and sometimes doors are open to lead the way. I have had things happen in my life only to realize that what I had begged for, wasn't at all what I wanted. Haven't we all been shopping and saw something we thought we just had to have, only to have it and then realize a few days later, it isn't as great as we thought it would be. Or maybe bigger than that. We beg for a job, we think it is the perfect job and pay for us. We get the job, only to realize it takes us away from a our family more than we thought. The drive is way longer and really the pay isn't much better. So we walk away with even less money, more tired, and we don't even really like what we are doing. Or maybe it is a relationship. We meet someone new and have so much in common. We make plans and we get together often. Days turn into weeks, and weeks into months, we look back and find that we really don't have that many things in common and we want to go back to the way things used to be, but we have moved on from those friends and now we don't know what to do.

Thankfully, we aren't chickens. Thankfully, if God opens a door regardless of the reason, He can make good things come from it, even if it means we learn a lesson and don't repeat it in the future. Or because of that experience, it opened the door to the better experience He had planned all a long, He just left us go on a detour for a bit. Also, we aren't to fear. Chicken fear everything! Did you know if you fear, you are sinning? Yup. When we fear, we are telling God we don't trust Him. We are to trust Him in ALL things. This is one of many sins I struggle with. I am thankful I don't need to be perfect to be loved by Him. I am thankful that He will forgive me. What are some things you are afraid of? What doors are you begging to have opened? Instead of fearing and begging, lets agree to pray for God's will. For God's plans. For God's courage and strength. God will not ask you, "are you too chicken to serve Me?". He knows yours weaknesses. But as I learned again in the study of Gideon. Our weaknesses give Him a chance to show His strength.

Enjoy this week, no matter what it brings. He is ready to open doors and windows to lead the way, but we need to make sure it is He that is leading and not us begging.