Hello 4^th of February 2021, and hello to all my lovely readers. I hope that you are all doing great and that you had a wonderful January, and a blessed start of February.

Weeell… mine was great — different — but great. Today is the day I begin my writing officially on my blog every year.

And to be honest, I am looking at the blinking cursor and it seems to be telling me “well, say something.” Really I have nothing much to say. I had planned on maybe sharing on how January was for me, but then again there isn’t much to tell, aside from the fact that I came to a more  intimate understanding of the grace of God.

So maybe I’ll just share that highlight.

We rear chicken. And there is one hen that hatched these little beautiful chicks ever. And as I looked at how tiny and beautiful they were, my mind just moved to God wondering, “how did You even think of creating such small beautiful little creatures?” Anyway, after two days I noticed that there was one chick that had an issue with its legs — spraddle legs — I guess. It had difficulty with walking and the mother hen had sort of rejected it, so it was just standing separate from the others.

So I picked it up and put it in a box and just started to care for it on my own. PS, I know nothing about chicken care, just because I said we rear chicken doesn’t mean I am the one who is literally there, hands-on taking care of them; fortunately we have a great caretaker who does a fantastic job on that. Me…not so much, I am not a fan of anything that crawls or creeps, insect/whichever animal.

I ensured that the little chick had food and water and exposure to warm environment. However, in the evening I encountered a problem because there was no sunlight/warm place I had for it. I tried checking the bulb technique online but I was clueless on how to make a boxed bulb with short notice. I finally figured, the house temperature is a bit warm during the night. So I placed it at a strategic place in the house and just prayed that it would survive. Our caretaker was away for a week.  I hoped when he would come back, he would  know what to do. Ooh…also, I had named the chick Bancy lol! But I’ll refer to it as baby chicken. And it’s so weird, whenever it saw me, it sort of run toward my direction all the time. And I remember saying, “no way I am going to get attached to a chicken.” But it was such a beautiful little creature, how could I not get attached? I was already attached.

Day six, we had made it and alive! Our caretaker was coming back on day seven. But tragically baby chicken died that evening. I knew it was an animal, I shouldn’t have gotten attached. But my heart was broken that evening and I remember telling God that day, “I hate death!”

But you want to know something interesting? In retrospect, God spoke to me in several ways during that week while I took care of the baby chicken.

I. Rejection and being an outcast

Looking at how the mother hen treated her baby chick, I saw our broken world. I related this situation so much with how we are brought into a foreign world — helpless — and how we immediately get into a sort of frenzy-type, survival mechanism kind of life. I thought of the many children who come into this world and experience the rejection of their own parents, siblings, and even of friends. I saw the baby chicken standing separate from the rest because it was not wanted. So little and fragile, not even knowing why it was not wanted.

Well, I am of those empathetic and sensitive types who usually want to make such kinds of situations better in whatever way; to tell the wounded people, “it is okay…God loves you, there is nothing wrong with you, do not let how people treat you or make you feel lesser of a person.”  I thought of the verse that says,

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. Psalms 27:10

And this gave me cause to smile because I understood, even if the whole world was to turn against me, God had already promised, that He would never leave me, nor forsake me. It made me understand that the creator of the billions of galaxies and stars, was deeply, and I repeat, deeply, concerned with every single detail of my life — including the numbers of my hair.

II. Weaknesses

While caring for the baby chicken, I saw how it struggled to walk and even stand on it’s own two feet while trying to drink water. Every time it tried to get up, it kept falling down, and I kept cheering it on to get up. During the day, I let it outside the box and let it wander around a closed compound and it walked quite well. However, because it was in a box the whole night, I guess the legs got accustomed to not moving around; so it was difficult to get back to the same progress in the morning. While observing it one of those fine days, I recognized myself in that little chick. Weak. Trying to get up everyday to live a life pleasing to God in a world that is totally antagonistic toward Him, but instead what ended up happening is, other times I walked well, most times I failed. And I am telling you, God spoke so powerfully to my spirit by that. He asked me, “what have you been saying to the chick?” and I responded, “I have been encouraging it to get up and keep trying.” And He said, “then why do you some times see as though I am disappointed in you while you fall? That is exactly what I do every single second of your life.”

Psalms 145

8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.14 The Lord upholds all that fall, and raises up all those that be bowed down.

Psalms 103

8. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. 9. He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever. 10. He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. 12. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13. Like as a father pities His children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him. 14. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. 17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children; 18. To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them.

What a loving father to have. What love, my God!

III. Death

I got angry about the whole ordeal. Well, not angry at God, but at death! And I told Him I was not happy. But when I thought about it later that night, a thought crossed my mind, “at least the chick is no longer suffering.” And that was comforting to know. Understanding that this is an animal I am talking about, I also recognized the prevalence and presence of death in our lives, and the soreness it brings. In truth, I praise God that I am not an animal, but I am a child of God, and I am created in His likeness and image, — therefore, I thus understand that my fate, is eternal life. For John wrote in His letters, “these things I have written unto you, that you may know that you have eternal life.” Not, that you may guess, or you may think, or you may perceive, — but that you may know.

1 John 5

11 And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.

IV. Protective Hand of God

Something else interesting I learnt. I kept on checking as well to see how the other baby chickens were fairing together with the mother hen, and one time, I found the mother hen had gathered them all together under her wings. They were all hidden away beneath her as she slept on them, sort of like giving them warmth.

Immediately this verse came to mind,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Matthew 23:27

Jesus spoke these words when He lamented over Jerusalem, after they had rejected Him. It is interesting that He used the portrayal of a mother hen and her chicks.

And I thought, “this is how God desires to protect us, under His wings far from the snares of this world, but tragically we are not willing. We go about our own ways, following our own fleshly desires and wishes, we make plans without including Him, only to call upon Him at a time of crisis. We repeat these cycles as He watches us, lamenting over us. If only we would yield and come to Him.”

Psalms 91

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”

I don’t know about you, but I need this kind of protecting every day! Every second! A protecting that is intentional, and never fails, a protecting that is willing to come down from heaven and hang on a cross so that I can have life and life in abundance.

To conclude my long post which I thought would be a short introductory come back, I find many people saying, “God doesn’t speak, if He speaks, why hasn’t He ever said anything to me?”

God speaks every single nano-second of our lives and through all kinds of channels, not limited to man! Remember Moses? The man whom God spoke to through a burning bush? The problem is not that He does not speak, the problem is the loud noises we have within us that often cloister His voice. If only we would learn to be still (and this goes for me too) we would hear His voice. The Psalmist wrote, be still and Know that I am God. 

And Jesus said,

John 10

27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

I guess I did have much to say after all. 🙂

Wishing you a lovely February and hoping to share with you much on my spiritual journey this year.

May God lead you into a more deeper knowledge of Himself this year, and may He keep you under His safe and protective wings always.

Much love,

~Shiko

♣