Pastoral Ponderings- Tough Old Bird
How do you like this weather we’ve been having? A little chilly, isn’t it? Among the weather warnings has been guidance to bring outdoor pets in to not have them suffer (but what about the poor wild animals?), so we we’ve even gotten Delilah, the barn cat, back into the catio with her nice, warm little cave. But what about the chickens?
As the extreme cold had been approaching, I’d been looking for wisdom online, seeing all these things on extra insulation and such. I then saw a posting from someone who had been traveling in Siberia, pointing out that hardly anyone had their chickens in insulated coops, though it regularly got as cold as 30 below (Celsius) there, and the chickens did fine. Some chickens are bred for cold hardiness—ours are among them, called Australorps.
So though I’ve been shaking in my boots going out to check on them, they’re not even complaining. At zero first thing this morning when I brought them some hot mash, rather than huddling inside their coop with the heat lamp, they were outside, greeting me cheerfully as ever. Before the first hard cold, I insulated one of their two coops—but they have consistently, even on the coldest nights, preferred the uninsulated one. Tough old birds for sure.
How is it that we, then, in human skins, have let ourselves get so wimpy? (I’m wearing a sweater and huddled under a blanket in my nicely heated home as I’m writing this!) Have you heard the phrase “That’s a first-world problem” in reference to some of the many things we complain about, that are generally just about lack of comfort, or lack of something most of the world would consider a luxury?
We spend so much time and energy teaching people to have a good attitude, stay positive and all—but I don’t think anyone’s ever had to be taught how to complain! Why can’t we be more like those tough old birds staying out in extreme weather without complaint?
Have you ever noticed that suffering is often addressed in the Bible as something that can deepen our connection and relationship with God, rather than being something to complain about? Suffering is also presented as something in which to rejoice—“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope” (Romans 4: 3-4).
I’m thinking I want to be like a touch old bird when I grow up!—Pastor Jim