Chickens Don't Fly

A few years ago, I decided to participate in the Easter pageant at my church. I had watched the pageant many times, and secretly coveted the beautiful and ornate angel costumes. I wanted to be an angel so bad I could taste it! As soon as the director posted the signup sheet, I jockeyed for position and quickly scrawled my name under the part I yearned to play. No longer would I sit in the audience and covet those costumes. No ma'am, this girl...THIS GIRL...was gonna be an angel! 

As a side note, one of my dearest friends was cast as Satan that year. Coincidence? I think not. Some of us are angels...others, well...not so much. But, I digress. It’s amazing what a pair of angel wings can do for a girl's ego.

Speaking of said wings...did I mention they were gorgeous?!? Certain they would share my awe and fascination; I rushed home after play practice to brag to tell my boys all about my wings.

My wings are soooo beautiful!...and huge!...and, and...pretty! 
They are decorated with hundreds of fluffy, white feathers, and...

No sooner did half my giddy, grandiose description leave my lips when my then seven year old, Jack interrupted and feathers began to fly.

“So you're telling me...
 you're playing the role of a big, fat chicken?” he said. 

Excuse me while I scrape the remains of my ego off the floor. Dang. Obviously, at least one of my children did not inherit my angelic genes. (Just kidding. He actually turned out pretty good despite those genes).

While Jack's comments are funny when shared in the context of the story above, they take on a much more serious nature in relation to my walk with the Lord. I'd love to tell you that I'm the perfect Christian, an angel so to speak, but the reality is sometimes I'm just a big, fat chicken - sitting on my faith, like a mother hen on a bunch of eggs - clucking, squawking and bocking when God asks me to move, act or apply His word. 

Forgive those who hurt you. Cluck. Love your neighbor. Squawk. Serve others. Bock! 

I think I'll just sit here in my comfortable nest for a little longer, Lord…a cluck, cluck here and squawk, squawk there. Here a cluck, there a squawk. Everywhere a bock, bock! 

When I opt to nest on my faith, it becomes nothing more than something I profess, but never show...all talk, no action. And, after a while, people stop listening. Faith without action is dead...it can’t fly and soar...and is contained like a chicken in a coop.

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?
Can such faith save them? … faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
 – James 2:14 & 17 (NIV) 

Thank God for the gentle nudges and reminders He gives to help us out of our nests...to spread our wings and soar! 

It’s time to get out of the nest. Chickens don’t fly. But, angels do!
And, I’d rather be an angel than a big, fat chicken any day! 

Father God, please forgive me for the times I choose to sit idle on my faith. Thank You for loving me despite myself, and for nudging me and reminding me to be more than a big, fat chicken. As I choose to follow Your plans for my life, help me to spread my wings and fly – to have a faith not just in words, but in action as well.