Florence's Chickens

My wife Florence has had it in her mind, I should really say in her heart, for quite some time now, that she really would like to have chickens. I’m beginning to think that she may be wishing she had married a farmer rather than a pastor.

Not to be deterred, she is a very innovative woman. When you look at this picture you probably see pheasants but Florence calls them her ‘chickens’. I guess she figures that if she can’t have real chickens she’ll have substitute ‘chickens’.

Don’t be fooled though. She is not only innovative, she is also determined. Florence cuts my hair. She has for as long as we’ve been a couple, but a while back I started paying her. It’s kind of fun really. I even give her a good big tip every time. She takes the money each time and she is saving it up for - ? - you guessed it – chickens! And now you know why I’ve been wearing my hair so short these days. It began about the same time that Florence decided that chickens were in her future.

Of course, to have chickens you have to have a place to keep them and it has to be warm and dry and sheltered from the wind. Let’s just say that it isn’t likely to happen in the near future. So, for now, all winter long, she lovingly puts cracked corn out for her substitute ‘chickens’. The crows get their share, of course, but she derives great delight out of watching her ‘chickens’ make their little pilgrimage up the driveway from the river bank each morning and afternoon for a feed of sweet corn.

Paul tells us we need to be content with what we have (1Tim 6). It occurs to me that there is a very strong correlation between, being content with what we have, and learning to appreciate what we’ve got. What happens so often is that we get so focused on all of the desirable features of those things we want but don’t have, that we overlook the really cool things about what we do have. It’s almost like a type of spiritual blindness, the result of which means we can miss out by failing to enjoy or appreciate all of the good things that God has allowed into our lives. Someone has said that “contentment is simply wanting what you have”. I guess that is the wisdom behind the ancient counsel to ‘count our blessings’.

Who knows, maybe someday Florence will get to have real chickens that sit and lay eggs and everything. Until then, something tells me she will continue to take great delight in feeding the pheasants and the crows and a host of other creatures. As for the rest of us, maybe we can console ourselves in the fact that, though the grass may not appear as green where we are on this side of the fence, at least we don’t have to put up with the bull either. I might not be a farmer but I do know what makes grass green.