What’s Good for the Goose (1)

Sun, 21 Oct 2018

‘Look at the birds in the sky!’ Matthew 6:26 CEV
Speaking to an anxiety-ridden crowd, Jesus said, ‘I tell you not to worry about your life... Look at the birds in the sky!’ You say, ‘What can I learn from looking at a bunch of birds?’ If you’ve ever been to Pennsylvania USA in early winter, you’ll have seen the skies literally darken as multitudes of Canadian geese gather for their annual flight to the sunny south. For the next few days let’s look at their behaviour, and learn from it.

Geese fly united; they don’t fly separately, in random style, because no goose alone can go that distance. They’re designed to fly in their characteristic ‘V’ formation. When a bird flaps its wings the air movement created provides an uplift, easing the workload of the bird behind it. Together, their flight range increases about 70 per cent. Even the youngest, weakest and oldest geese can make the trip. They accomplish together what they could never accomplish separately. There’s a lesson here: when the Bible says, ‘Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another...’ (Hebrews 10:25 NIV), it means, ‘Stay in fellowship with one another, and enjoy the uplift it provides.’ You’re not called to fly solo. ‘The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”’ (1 Corinthians 12:21 NIV) Occasionally a goose strays off on its own but soon becomes exhausted, loses altitude and ultimately pulls wearily back into the formation. ‘Look at the birds’, and learn.