Hello, Sunshine!

Our ducks and chickens went outside today for the very first time.

They have never seen sunlight. They have been living in Rubbermaid bins, under heat lamps, in our garage.

This morning I found all five of the yellow chicks (our youngest nuggets) all perched around the rim of their bin. It was time.

We took their temporary play yard (I don't know what else to call it) outside onto some nice, green grass. We placed the nuggets in it and...

...they just stood here.

So we sprinkled some feed around...

...more standing.

They didn't know what to do.

Now, they have been housed in three different bins. The red and black nuggets were in one bin, the yellow nuggets in another, and the ducks in the third.

...and so they stood, each according to their own kind. Huddled with their familiars.

Finally, someone started checking the place out. Finally, they found the feed. Some even flew a bit to test the height boundaries of this new container. It's taller than they can fly. They are still contained, but there is much more room to run and to flap their wings and to grow.

Aren't the nuggets a little like us when we begin to discover freedom in Christ? We are content in the darkness. We don't know what to do with the light and the freedom we have been given. We stick to our familiar, comfortable surroundings. We stand around, not knowing quite what to do.

And then...

...we begin to check things out. We find nourishment in the Scriptures. We discover that God is so much bigger than us. We still have boundaries, but there is freedom to run and to flap our wings and to grow within those boundaries.

Maybe this post is kind of silly, but I think God is going to teach me a lot through those little chicken nuggets. Maybe it's not silly, after all.