Kindness
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." [John 3:16]
"Chucky the Ducky"
All the pretty ducklings were so excited about the big beauty
pageant that was going to be held down by the lake. Oh, how they preened their
feathers and tried on different flowers and new ways to waddle that they
thought would give them the edge to win the contest. They quacked nonstop each
evening before the competition about which one was the prettiest duckling of
them all and often times they fought and got their feelings hurt and had to go
pout because each thought he was the prettiest and each one worried that he or
she wasn’t.
It seemed like every duck in the colony could only
think of the pageant and getting ready. Every duck except for Chucky. Chucky
didn’t care about being beautiful or being admired. His favorite thing to
do was have friends over and getting to know them and sharing Jesus with them.
The other ducks just didn’t understand Chucky at all. He associated with
the most unacceptable types. Chucky enjoyed having the frogs, the turtles, even
the field mice to his home. To the other dignified ducks, it was out of the
question to associate with such unworthy beasts who were clearly not as
advanced and sophisticated much less as pretty as the ducks.
“Chucky, why don’t you pretty yourself up? I bet with some preening
and some pretty flowers, you could be able to compete in the beauty pageant on
Saturday.” His friend Gracie Gander said to him.
“That’s not important Gracie.” He answered her. But Friday night
I am having a small dinner party. Why don’t you come? Roger Rodent will be
here with his family as well as Terry Turtle and his girlfriend Teresa. We are
going to play twister. It will be fun.”
“Oh Chucky, there
is no way I could socialize with THOSE species.” Gracie said proudly and
she strutted out of Chucky’s home proudly.
The day of the
pageant was so exciting. Ducks scurried about in nervous excitement about the
chance to win the big prize, although there really was no prize. Finally the
time came. Chucky and his guests watched form a distant hill as they sipped
their tea and ate their cookies. The Ducks mixed and mingled in a group waiting
for the pageant to start, sometimes pushing and biting each other in
frustration and jealousy.
“FLY!” came the sudden command.
Suddenly, catastrophe struck. From the tall grass, the human hunters stood up
and began to shoot their guns. The duck colony was caught totally by surprise.
An alert duckling spotted the hunters just before they struck and sounded the
alarm. Instinct set in and the colony lifted into the air flying every
direction so as not be good targets and flew in a panic away from the lake. The
rifles rang their shots out in a riot of explosions that sounded like the world
was ending. But no duck was killed. The hunters were mad and took their
equipment and moved on to another site to shoot ducks.
Chucky excused
himself from his guests who understood his concern. Quickly he waddled to the
standard retreat spot where his fellow ducks would gather after such an attack.
He got there before most of the frightened colony but when he did, he found
something very upsetting. Gracie was hurt badly. Chucky went to her and
comforted her. “Why me Chucky?” She cried and he plucked his own
feathers to pad the places where she was hurt for warmth. Soon the whole colony
arrived and they were all worried and upset but they would not come near
Gracie.
“Come help me.” Chucky pleaded with them. “She
is hurt. She needs all of our help.”
“Oh no.” the
other ducks said proudly. “We could never soil ourselves with her now.
What if some of the dirt and blood got on our feathers? No, no, Chucky. Just
leave her. We cannot afford to be soiled like that.” And slowly the colony
slipped away. But Chucky didn’t care about being dirty or getting her
blood on him. He just knew he had to save his dear friend.
“I
have to get her to my house where I can help her heal.” He quacked to
himself.
“We will help.” Came the squeaky voice from the
edge of the clearing. There stood his many friends that the other ducks would
not associate with. The frogs, the turtles, the field mice, the rodents, the
snakes all showed up. Chucky was always there for them, now they were here for
him. They gathered around Gracie and helped transport her to Chucky’s home
where she began to heal.
“Chucky, I feel so ashamed I was bad to
your friends.” Gracie said a few days later as she was getting better.
“Why do you think they helped you save me?” She wondered.
“Because that is what Jesus would do.” Chucky responded bringing her
some more soup. “We are made in God’s image and God sent his son to
save us and nothing would stop him from doing that. So the least we can do is
reach out to a friend to show her the same love.” he said. Gracie was so
grateful and wanted to learn more about Jesus and Chucky’s good friends.
Never again did she worry about being beautiful or proud as she was before the
pageant. Now she just wanted to be more like Jesus, just like you and I want to
be.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. [Colossians 3:12]
