Dip One Webbed Toe
And he said to me, “It
is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end. To the
thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”
Revelation 21:6
They were hand-sized fluffs of yellow packed in a small box
when we picked them up from our local post office. Half a dozen ducks poked their heads up when
the lid was lifted just to glimpse the world around them and meet the people
who would care for them. They grew fast,
made a mess of their small enclosure, and traded their canary fluff for white
feathers.
That’s when we knew it was time to take them to the
pond. We loaded them up among their quacking
protests and placed them on the edge of their new home. And we waited. And waited.
They toddled along on the water’s edge, they stood in a row looking out at
the calm pool, they jabbered with each other, and that was it. Not one duck dipped an orange webbed toe into
the water, not one.
As we watched them, I couldn’t help but think of us—you and
me. There is life for us promised by our
Creator. It is a life of water that will
provide everything we need and allow us to never thirst again. But, like those ducks, we stand on the
water’s edge. We see all that the land
has to offer and we try to fulfill our desires with the things of this
earth. We stuff in more of everything
and still, we know that something is missing.
But, like the ducks, we are afraid to take the plunge.
Ducks were made for water.
They are aquatic creations with oily, waterproof feathers that work to
keep their skin completely dry. Their
webbed feet have no nerves and cannot feel the cold of icy aquifers. They are able to see almost 340 degrees
around their heads and are known to be extremely alert and difficult to sneak
upon. This knowledge made it hard for
me to understand their hesitation. The
same hesitation we have when presented with the choice to follow Christ, to
give up our life and give our will over to Him, our Creator. Our trust in Him sets us free from the
bondage of this earth and allows us to exercise His will using all of our
talents and the things we were made for to further His kingdom. But, He never forces us.
Honestly, it was difficult not to force those ducks, not to submerge
them ourselves. Instead, as much as we
wanted to see them glide into the water and find the joy of the weightlessness
offered by such an environment, we only offered them their freedom. We also knew it would only take one brave
duck to stand out from the others—to test the waters, find them fine, and
encourage the others.
The same is true for us.
Jesus told us to be leaders and teach others about the freedom found in
the living water provided by God through Jesus, “All authority has been given
to Me in heaven and on earth. Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”
(Matthew 28:16-20). Each day we have the
opportunity to live our life in such a way to show those standing on the edge
that the spiritual water offers us everything we need here and in eternity.
It is the truth our pristine feathered fowl finally gained
once they waddled in the enclosed spring.
They discovered their freedom, fully freed to be who they were created
to be.
