Hello, and welcome to Enbolden, living a bold Christian life. I'm Chris Shutter, an ordinary Christian living with and learning about an extraordinary God. Thank you for joining me on spending 30 days of praising God. Today's moment of praise was inspired by Genesis 1, 28.
God blessed them and said to them, Refruitful and increase in number. They'll the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, and over every living creature that moves on the ground. My husband and I have four chickens on our little suburban farm. They are our COVID babies.
I'm not really sure why we decided to get the chickens back in March of 2020. We knew nothing about taking care of farm animals. But like the starry-eyed parents carrying home their little bundle of joy from the hospital, we eagerly packed up our four baby chicks in a box and left the dusty little farm store behind. We got four instead of the two we originally planned because we aren't allowed to have a rooster in the city.
It was our insurance plan. If one or two grew up to be roosters, we'd have to do away with them. And here we are more than a year leader with four giant chickens and a fairly small coop. Henny Penny, Mabel, Grandma, Goldie, they don't seem to mind.
They grew up snuggled in close and seemed to enjoy each other's company. Each day we go out to the nesting box in eager anticipation of fresh eggs and we are re-roaded. But what does that have to do with praising God today? Today, as I look out of my she-shed window and watch my four egg-making creatures peck and sleep, I can't help but be amazed and praise the plans and gifts of God.
From the beginning, he created the animals and plants prior to man. He prepared a place so perfect for us humans to grow and prosper. The chicken is pretty much God's perfect animal gift to us. It's an egg-laying machine.
Left to wander, they drop eggs wherever they go, fertilized or not. It's a daily gift of food, not just for us humans, but any other animal should they be so lucky to encounter one of these free rovers. When we got our baby chicks, we read all the books about how to care for chickens and how to train them up just right. And having trained a puppy just a year prior, I was ready for the task.
And yet, when the time came to move our little baby chicks out of the bathroom and into their big girl coop, they needed no human intervention. At night, they headed by themselves to their protected beds. And by day, they would hide away in their appointed laying space, all by instinct, all by God's design. It's pretty amazing.
When we remove the concept of God the Creator from our lives and look at the world from a random point of view, there's danger that places humans and animals on equal ground. But since the beginning of recorded time, humans were appointed by God as protectors and users of Earth's resources. God did not make a chicken to simply lay hundreds, if not thousands of eggs in her lifetime, just for them to be unused. If you've ever been around a chicken in the midst of the egg-laying process, you'll hear something interesting.
When the deed is done, she will often squawk loudly and triumph. My chickens then don't hang around protecting that egg from me. In fact, it's almost like they're saying, here, have another. And each warm egg I pull from the nest is a reminder of our God who has gifted us with all we need.
Praise the Lord.