The Lost Ducklings

Emerging from the safety of the bushes, a mother duck waddled across the sidewalk to the upper pond. Eight tiny ducklings followed her into the water. At the time my husband and I were taking our grandson for a wagon ride at the park near our son’s house. Since we would be visiting them for awhile, we knew we would be giving him many more wagon rides.

Although the park had the usual playground equipment, it also had a walkway around two huge ponds. Between the upper and lower ponds lay a gentle slope with bushes and a waterfall. Our grandson looked forward to seeing the ponds because of the many ducks that lived there.

A couple of weeks passed before we saw the mother and her ducklings again. How much the ducklings had grown! This time the mother was leading her young to the water of the lower pond. The group slowly waddled down the hill toward the larger pond. The mother slipped into the water. Soon the ducklings followed her. I counted, “One, two, three…” “Two are missing,” I exclaimed. “What could have happened to them?”

We did not have long to wonder. Soon the two stragglers appeared in front of a bush near the upper pond and began to waddle toward the others. Immediately, two of their siblings climbed out of the water to join the stragglers. As soon as they met, the four ducklings waddled toward the water and slipped into the water of the lower pond. Then the whole family glided together through the glistening water.

What an excellent picture of how believers should support those in need, especially other Christians! Paul writes to the Galatians, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2, NIV). Moreover James urges, “Love your neighbour as yourself” (James 2:8, NIV). Those ducklings reminded me of how the church should operate. Peter Scholtes wrote the hymn, “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love,” based on John 13:35. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

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