Tightrope Walking With Chickens

Stien 12.6.22

I’ve always been a chicken. Not when it comes to doing physically demanding things, of course. I’m always happy to abseil a 70 ft viaduct or get in a helicopter and bungy jumping etc. will inevitably follow. The problem is that I’m a chicken in life when it comes to trusting God, talking to people about difficult truths, or walking into a room when people might look at me. I think most of us are chickens, because it is easier. The brave ones are the outliers, the George Mullers and William Wilberforces.

I saw two videos yesterday that reminded me about this. One was a friend’s post showing their trapeze sessions and the other was a chicken being sheltered from rain under a wing. I once saw a fluffy mother hen in a rainstorm. When the rain stopped, the mother hen stood up and shook out the raindrops and revealed five little chickens who had been completely hidden and protected within her feathers. I understood what Jesus was saying about wanting to gather us under his wings like a mother hen. Jerusalem wasn’t willing to hide themselves in him. I don’t think we are either. That’s why stress and anxiety are such a big factor in our lives, because we take the fear on ourselves, instead of trusting Jesus as he tells us to.

The trapeze joy was exciting to see, and once the high flying was over, they were dropped gently into the safety net. That was something God had spoken to me about. That, falling into him, trusting him to be a safe place, we would rest, safe and comfortable, in the bouncy net waiting for us, safer for having fallen into his grace. I loved a picture someone close to me had. God showed them, fearful on a tightrope, carefully trying to balance, in the difficulties of life, only to discover that God had placed the rope on a solid floor the whole time. I don’t want to look back finding that I’ve been too much of a chicken to enjoy the adventure of walking with God.

I wrote something seven years ago that came up as a memory when I was writing this. It had the same message.