GROWING SEEDS "Whose Leading You"

 

 

For the past month, I've been noticing a family of 28 white-beaked ducks swimming from one side of the cove to the other while I'm having my morning coffee.  Back and forth, back and forth they go each day.  One duck, we'll call him Darrell, is the obvious leader....always out front by himself, and the rest just follow him wherever he takes them.  Darrell could take them to the edge of the dam and jump if he wanted and they would all follow, but instead, he continues taking them back and forth from shore to shore for no apparent reason.  I'm going to assume this is "Morning Exercise Time" for this sweet little trusting family, but I just don't know.  I think I'll ask my duck professional friend, Donna McFarland.

But what I have noticed is the 27 followers all trust their leader, Darrell.  They trust him to keep them safe, to have their best interest and to not lead them over the dam.  They are blindly obedient and never appear to question his decisions.  They just follow Darrell.

A couple days ago, I saw one of the ducks get distracted on the shore while the rest of the family were headed back across the cove.  The leader noticed #23 was missing....and turned the entire family around and went back to get the the attention-deficit-rebel duck off the shore and back to the safety of the family.  It was an amazing lesson in keeping our eyes on the One who leads us. 

More times than I can count, I have been that attention-deficit-rebel who has taken her eyes off the One who leads her.  I have been distracted by life...by bright and shiny things....by struggles...by people....by places I want to go instead of where He knows I "need" to go.  And He always returns for me....telling me, "Keep your eyes on Me, Liz, and follow where I take you"...not because He doesn't want me to be happy, but because the journey is not a safe place to be without Him.

I'm a work in progress and feel confident I cause God much frustration.  But like a thousand times before, He just keeps reminding me He will always, always return for me when the things of this world cause my eyes to wander away from Him.  And He promises to never let me fall over the dam.

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with my eye upon you."

Psalm 32:8