PRACTICE: Can you recall a situation where increased awareness saved you from trouble?
I was talking to a friend in the middle of the day while she was driving (hands free of the phone). A fox ran across the street in front of her car. She was amazed and alarmed at the same time. Amazed because she was seeing a fox in broad daylight in her crowded subdivision and alarmed because she had recently become the pet parent of a small dog. The sighting reminded her that she could not let the pup outside unattended. I awaken the next morning with the fox on my mind, but the puppy image had been replaced with chickens and chicken coops… why? I don’t know – perhaps it had something to do with being raised on a farm and hearing the idiom, “there is a fox in or near the henhouse.” This meant that something or someone could not be trusted.
Here’s what I know about foxes and chickens and what we can learn from the two. Foxes are the most feared chicken predator. The fox is smart, a quick learner, sly, savvy and strikes when the guard is down (early morning or evening). They will assess the situation before attacking. The attack is never impulsive and little evidence is left behind. Once they have tasted the chicken in an area, they will be back.
What about the chicken? Chickens are more like you and I than most of us know. They live communally and are very gregarious. Roosters crow when they find food and when there is a disturbance. Mess with a hen’s chick and she will let you know it. Chickens date. Chickens dream. Each chicken is different, but all enjoy the simple pleasures of life - sunshine, fresh air, a comfortable place to sleep. They communicate in a language we don’t understand. A chicken loves being him or herself. Chickens are protective and famous for being motherly.
This is probably more than you wanted to know about either. Nature has her way of teaching if we listen and learn. My girlfriend became a bit of both almost instantly. She adopted some of the behavioral traits of the fox to become the “mother hen” to her pup. Use your imagination to form your conclusion of this one.
Song of Solomon 2:15
PONDER THIS THOUGHT: What does the fox say?
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