Most of you know that we have chickens at our humble little farm. They have a coup out in the pasture that is inside of a large fenced-in area. The pen is about 15 yards long and the coup is on one end and the gate into the pen is on the other end. Every day when I go out to feed, water and egg collect, I turn on the water spigot, which is just outside the pen. There is a hose attached to the spigot which goes through the fence and empties into the water tank. The second that the sound of the water hitting the tank begins, the chickens all come running to the gate. They are really quite fast as they scurry toward me, knowing that food is coming. The chickens get up to me and I walk right through them, on my way to the coup at the other end of the pen. After I pass through them, the chickens recognize that I am going the opposite way from them and they reverse their direction and come after me as fast as their little chicken legs can carry them. They are so quick in fact that they quickly run past me and in front of me. The moment though, that they realize that they are now in front of me, they look back at me as if I am pursuing them. Now they look at me like a predator who is trying to catch them, all because they ran past me on the way to the small barrel of chicken feed just outside the chicken coup door. When I get there I grab a small pan full of feed and then spread some of it out on the ground by the handfuls. Suddenly I am no longer a threat and they come up to my feet and enjoy the food. The chickens continue to peck away at the food, now delighted and calm. Next I take the pan full of feed and enter the coup to fill their feeder and to collect the eggs. Inevitably a small hen runs in the door ahead of me, anxious to get her portion from the feeder. The problem is that when she beats me in there, she sees me enter the door and immediately sees me as a threat. Each time she runs to and fro and in circles inside the coup trying to find a way past me and out the door to safety. When I step to the side, she runs out the door to what she perceives as safety. Next I pour the food into the feeder and go to the other side of the coup to collect the eggs. Just about this time, the hen reenters the coup, hops up on the rail on the front of the feeder and begins to eat, contentedly. I take the eggs outside and get another pan full of feed and reenter the coup to add it to the feeder only to have the hen become startled and run out the door again. I step to the other side of the coup and she sticks her head in and scampers up onto the feeder and resumes her meal, as if all was right with the world. I exit the coup and walk across the pen and exit the gate, until the next time. When I do come back, everything will play out almost exactly the same. They rush to me anxious for what they will receive. They pass me up and get ahead of me and suddenly look back like I’m after them. They get the food and they are content. I go toward the coup and the hen passes me with anticipation. I enter the coup and it is panic time for her. I move to the other side and she comes in and eats peacefully. I leave and reenter and she has to leave and reenter.
I run toward God and I start to follow after Him. Suddenly in my exuberance, I see that I am out in front of Him. I panic and try to run back behind Him. When I get behind Him again, I calm down and can take His sustenance in peace. Let the order get reversed and I’m confused, out of sorts and out of place. I have to start over, reenter His presence with the proper mindset and attitude. Sounds a bit like a chicken walk of faith, doesn’t it? When we keep things in their proper order there is peace in our souls and we continue to be fed. Blessings!

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