1st Sunday Devotional – Geese in Formation

Jeffrey-Hamilton-Unsplash

When I was a young girl, the honking sound of geese passing overhead was enough to make me and everybody else in my house drop whatever we were doing and rush outside. There in our yard, we would gaze up at these beautiful birds flying past in their V formations on their way south. Back then, you felt blessed if you spotted one flock a year. Now geese are much more common in my part of the country, but I still stop and look whenever I hear a flock of geese. I don’t see the flocks as much as individual pairs finding a pond to make a sliding landing. I especially enjoy seeing and hearing them skid down on the water, using their feet as landing gear.

Those geese flying south or north in formation demonstrate lessons for our own lives. First, each goose has its place in the V formation. Second, they take turns being the point where they absorb the the wind pressure while they lead the way. Third, the birds are constantly honking to let each other know what they need to be doing and to encourage stragglers to flap their wings harder and get back into line. These aren’t scientific observations, but just ideas I’ve come up with from watching them.

As church members we might do well to emulate the geese. First, all of us have a place in God’s formation and in our churches. Second, there may be times when each of us should go to the front and absorb the pressures of our trip through life. Other times, we get to follow along on the easier paths. Third, we have room in our church formations for any who choose to make the journey. And last, we should honk more to signal those we are with that we don’t want to lose them. W should always be reading to let those we’re passing know that yes, we are in formation for Jesus and that there is always room for more to join us in our Christian life flight.

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”     …1st Corinthians 12:27 (NIV)

What lessons for our Christian walk do you see in nature?

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