If you’re a regular reader of this column, you probably figured there’d be more chicken stories coming. When someone like me suddenly becomes a chicken mama, stories happen.
In years gone by, God taught me many lessons through my kids and dogs. Now it seems He may use these crazy chickens we’ve adopted.
It all started last winter when my husband decided it was time for us to get some chickens. After all, how could we keep calling this place a farm if we never owned any bon a fide farm critters?
Chickens seemed like a good first step—like “training wheels” for rookie farmers.
But the birds were going to need a home, so my engineer husband began designing and building a chicken palace.
His plan was to build it in our barn, put some temporary wheels on it, and then gently roll it out to its carefully-chosen location with a tractor.
When the big moving day arrived, I went down to the barn to “help.” Well, ok, I was mostly there to capture it all—triumph or disaster—on video. Don’t we all want to capture one scene in our lifetime that might go viral on Youtube?
There was definitely tension in the air as Joe prepared to move the chicken house—like NASA mission control right before a space launch. He’d built it well, but he just wasn’t sure how it would fare during the moving process.
It was all going swimmingly until it was time to maneuver the structure through the barn door. At that point Joe realized the lawn mower wheels he’d attached made the whole thing just a teensy bit too tall.
The launch was put on hold as we discussed options. My contributions to that conversation were basically worthless, as I know even less about engineering than I do about chickens, but I watched my husband’s impressive brain go into hyperdrive.
In spite of all my bad suggestions, Joe figured it out. He calculated various angles and realized that if he used the scoop on the tractor to tilt the chicken house just so, he could get it through the barn door. And by golly, he did it.
What would I have done? Well, not a math problem, that’s for sure. No, I probably would’ve started ripping things up and the whole thing might have gotten pretty ugly.
I was reminded how wonderful and essential it is that God created each of us with unique skills and abilities. Otherwise, we might never get our chicken houses out of our barns.
Sometimes people who aren’t wired like we’re wired drive us nuts, but it’s a fact—this world needs both engineers and writers.
The chicken-house move also reminded me that as the old chorus says, “God will make a way where there seems to be no way.”
When it looks like things are falling apart or impossible, we don’t need to panic, fire up the power tools and start whacking away. We do need to step back, take a breath, and use the brains God has given us.
Or even better, ask God for wisdom beyond our own.
After all, He’s made this amazing promise: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)
In the grand scheme of things, getting a chicken house out of a barn isn’t a very big deal, but the lessons we learn in these little situations serve us well when big situations arise.
I know this: Every time I look out my window and see that little red chicken house, I’m reminded that “God is … a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1).