Mr. Rooster
This morning my daughter and I dug up bulbs from our flowerbeds to preserve them till next spring. After completing our task, I chose to take a walk on the farm. I noticed that the cool, crisp air of autumn was carrying on it the sounds of the harvest.
As I walked, I could hear the laboring of our neighbor’s combine as it moved down the amber swaths of corn. I also heard the rattling, stashing sounds of my husband’s elevator as it carried this year’s harvest of ear corn up and up dropping them into the corn crib. The noises of men hard at work told the story of the Lord’s provision amidst a dry growing season. Even when the rains delayed, His hand was at work providing for our needs.
Not only sounds but the sights of autumn I would have missed had I chosen to not get my daily exercise. I strode over the wayward yellow kernels of corn that escaped the elevator. I continued my walk from the farmyard to its bordering trees. There many yellow-husked spheres lay where they had fallen from their perches on their parent black walnut trees. A pair of doves rested quietly on the roof of our barn. Many of the kittens that were born this spring trailed behind me as I paced the length of our farm roads.
I happened to pass by the chicken yard. It is home for one rooster and about 50 little red hens. There stood Mr. Rooster by his lonesome self. On our farm, the hens are cooped up till noon so that when egg-laying is completed, we only have to search for eggs in the nests inside the house.
MR. ROOSTER WON THE LOTTERY! When all the other roosters were being butchered, he was spared. “Why,” you may ask, “was he treated differently?” It was apparent to my husband that this rooster was on the bottom of the pecking order. He was so fearful of being pecked at by his male comrades that he rarely left the chicken house. When the rest of the crowd went out into the chicken yard, he cowered indoors. So, as a mercy to him, he was chosen to escape the final indignity that the other roosters met.
However, poor Mr. Rooster is suffering from post-traumatic stress due to the actions of his so-called feathered friends. So even now when the hens come outside, he takes a hike. You see, Mr. Rooster has not yet been enlightened enough to realize who he really is. He sees himself as a victim and not as Ruler of the Roost. Perhaps he is not only suffering from being rooster-pecked in the past. He may now also be hen-pecked. But when he learns the truth about himself, his life will change for the better.
We still have hope for him, that someday he will realize that he is meant to be the protector of all his lady birds. We look forward to the day when he will begin to announce his presence with a proud cock-a-doodle-doo.
I shall keep walking and looking for the day when Mr. Rooster begins to live a new life. This bird, I believe, has potential.
Like Mr. Rooster, we all have suffered from the slavery of sin and its effects. We can view ourselves as victims or we can begin a new life by faith in Jesus Christ. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” So for those who want to become new…. be in Christ. By faith surrender your life to Him.
Holiday Banana Bread
2 mashed bananas
½ cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup chocolate chips
½ cup maraschino cherries, cut up
Walnuts (optional)
Blend softened shortening and sugar. Add eggs and mashed bananas. Add the dry ingredients. Blend in chips, cherries and nutmeats. Pour into a 5×9-inch loaf pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes at 325°F.
Recipe credit: 125th Anniversary Cookbook, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wykoff, Minn., Eloda Wood