Close the Gate!

My Ducks

It was the 1^st of April when I unwilling acquired a flock of foul. Ten chicks and two ducklings to be exact. They were the inconvenience, joke, prank, or fool of the year. In the past, my oldest son derived his pleasure of pranking by placing cups of water on the door frame to fall on the poor soul who walked under, Vaseline on the door handles of our home, or even emails stating he had been expelled from high school. April fools are his thing and typically I am his victim.

This year he decided to purchase 50 chicks and let them loose in my living room. Thankfully, the lady at Tractor Supply limited him to 10, and also made him buy the appropriate equipment; heat lamps, feeder, water dispenser, and chicken feed. It makes me happy that his little trick cost him more than money than he wanted to spend. I am not sure how the 2 ducklings came into play, but they did. One yellow and one brown.

It was 11 pm and Josh and I thought the day had passed without us being fooled. Then we heard a strange noise…peep, peep, peep. Knowing Dayne was involved, I jumped up and rushed to the living room to see him taking baby chicks out of a box as fast as he could. So, I did what any sane person would and began to put the chicks BACK into the box. Josh was excited as he had wanted chickens for years. Of course, we woke all the kids up to witness the chaos, and they were excited. Me, on the other hand, had no use for chicks or ducks in my life. But there they were. Josh promised he would feed and water them, build them a coup, and make sure they stayed warm.

They were moved to the garage the next day where they stayed under heat lamps and made my whole downstairs smell. I wasn’t a fan. I especially did not like the ducks. They liked to splash water all over their enclosure and make a mess. But Josh wanted to keep them, encouraging me that I would like them.

Over the next few weeks, Josh and Josiah built an amazing chicken coup with an outdoor cage run for the ducks to bed in. It’s a great set up and I am still really impressed by his craftsmanship.

As soon as we thought they were ready, we moved them outside. They were happy and I was happy to have my garage back. Each morning, we would open the gate to the cage and let everyone out to free range throughout the day. At night we would close the gate to the cage. The chickens would make their way up into their coup and the ducks would bed down on the ground under the coup.

I don’t know when I started to really love the ducks, but the time came. They had so much personality and wanted to be social. They would look at me with their heads turned sideways like they had something to communicate. They would waddle and run to follow me around, do their duck dance of lifting their long necks up and down, and were always quacking when we came home.

Late into the summer, I caught myself outside, “playing with my ducks” nearly every day. Josh would fuss about the water bill, but the ducks loved it, so I would spend half an hour spraying the water hose and watching them run back and forth like kids playing in a sprinkler. I figured out that they loved watermelon, so we shared one often. While they would never really let me hold them, they liked to be around me, so we just sat a lot.

The ducks got increasingly comfortable and didn’t always want to go into their cage at night. Instead, they would want to nest under the back porch or waddle around in the yard. Josh would tell me, “Babe, make sure you close the gate”. And some nights I would chase them into their cage to lock them in, but some nights I didn’t. I too got increasingly comfortable not closing the gate.

Unfortunately, the story is about to come to a tragic end. Something got my ducks. I think it was a fox…and I know, I know, such is life. But the lesson I want to learn from this story is that we can never get too comfortable and stop closing the gate.

The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

As believers, the Bible warns us to be on guard.

Don’t get too comfortable.

We have an enemy.

Close the gate!

I knew that foxes were present in the neighborhood. I should have not gotten too comfortable. I should have closed the gate!

As I have wrestled with the feelings of regret over loosing my ducks, it’s made me think, where in my life am I not closing the gate? Where are the spaces that I am feeling too comfortable and letting my guard down?

My ducks are no more and that makes me sad. I have told everyone that I do NOT want more, but maybe one day I will. My lesson is learned and understood. The chickens were fine because they have a coup with an automatic door that closes…but I have still closed the gate every night since my ducks were killed.

I’ve always loved the verse pertaining to marriage in Song of Solomon 2:15 that says, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” This verse is pointing out that seemingly small problems, tiny distractions, or insignificant sins can really wreak havoc in our marriages. The same principle applies in all areas of our lives.

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:11-13

Moral of the story: don’t get lazy. Close the gate!