At Home Under Rooster Wings

So when you think of God, are you at home with Him?

Or do you feel as out of place as a chick under rooster wings? 

The other day our goat stepped on the rooster and broke its leg,

so we had the rooster convalescing in the garage until its leg mended.

 All at the same time, we needed to move our five little chicks to the garage, too.

Well, with a broken leg, the rooster was not so feisty and perhaps he was lonely, 

for he accepted the chicks into his pen! 

A couple days ago as I was outside cleaning up the yard and getting ready for the coming storm,

one of the children hurried up saying that the heating lamp had gone off in the garage, 

and when they checked on the chicks, the chicks were huddled 

under the rooster's wings!

There they were. Someone got a picture of it happening more than once.

And I can't help thinking that sometimes our concept of God can be about as wacky as a chick under a rooster.

 And yet God can even use an upside down situation like that to give us a little picture

of Himself.

Himself--the Wounded Healer,

the Broken Mender,

the Beaten Refuge that takes us, cold, defenseless, helpless and weak,

under His wings.
He became weak so that He could understand our need.
He was broken so He could know what it feels like when our hearts break.

He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities.

He was stepped on and broken and rejected--so He could know what it feels like.

And when we in our darkness, cold and miserable, simply come to Him,

He shelters us.

Rejected Himself, He could reject us, too.

Instead, He receives all who come to Him.

His wings and warm feathers give us a message:

"You are loved,"

as this sweet card said underneath the orchid centerpiece at a birthday party our little children and we parents attended last week.

And although God, being God and not human, probably can't be exactly lonely,

He yet desires fellowship with us--

us poor, weak, helpless humans. 

And when we believe on Him and seek His face and respond to Him,

He celebrates us!

So the next time you feel like a chick under rooster wings when it comes to God, 

don't let it bother you.

Just snuggle up close and be warm!