by: Denny

Twice a year Lucy goes to Mayo Clinic to see two doctors who treat her for a condition she was born with. It’s called Imotile Cilia Syndrome. We are blessed that we only live 75 miles from Rochester so she can get the best care. She tries to schedule her visits so it doesn’t interrupt her workdays. It’s usually an all-day ordeal with the many tests they do. Mayo is a huge complex of tall buildings connected by underground walkways and skyways. She must go to several locations and it’s a lot of walking and waiting. The tests are in the morning, and she sees the doctor later in the day when the test results are completed. I used to go inside the clinic with her, but since COVID they make you wear a mask and I hate wearing one that long. I’ll let her off at the main entrance and find a place to park and wait for her to call me to come and pick her up. There is about a three hour wait time between her tests and seeing the doctor, so we’ll go out for lunch and maybe do some shopping.

That said, here I am sitting in a parking area at Silver Lake in downtown Rochester. After dropping Lucy off, I went to a convenience store to use the bathroom and bought a cup of coffee and a donut. It’s a warm sunny day for mid-March, and I have the windows down. Hundreds of geese and ducks winter here, and they are everywhere. In writing my blogs I try to use everyday situations and relate them to Biblical teachings, stories, and experiences. I sat there for a while just watching the geese and ducks and began to realize how much like people they were acting. I grabbed my note pad and began writing down some comparisons and observations over the course of about an hour or so. In short, I concluded that ducks are a happy, quiet, and content bird and geese are loud, obnoxious, and contentious. The geese seemed easily offended if another one got close. There appeared to be an invisible boundary that if entered or crossed would be met with a flurry of loud honking on top of the already endless and annoying chatter. It almost seemed like some were looking for a fight and would charge wildly at another passing goose with head lowered and beak ready to peck. I wonder if that’s where the expression “nit-pecking” came from, or is that “nit-picking’? Whatever. They strutted about with a snooty arrogance which seemed to say, “Go ahead, make my day!”. Someone had dumped a whole bunch of shelled corn on the ground. Two geese acted like they owned it and even though they weren’t eating it, they chased all others away. I wanted to intervene and give those greedy self-centered honkers the “what for”, but my dog wasn’t in this fight. Not only that, but there was goose poop everywhere and I wasn’t altogether sure they wouldn’t attack me also. Besides, it wasn’t long, and three crows showed up and chased them away. Unlike ducks who slowly and methodically cross the street, geese would stand in defiance in the middle of the road and not budge. One nearly got hit while attacking a car. Geese are also stupid. I estimated the geese outnumbered the ducks by a ten to one margin. Interestingly, the ducks weren’t intimidated by the geese. There was a group of about thirty ducks sitting quietly in the shade under a couple trees. They weren’t defensive even if another duck or goose came near. In fact, I saw some new-comer ducks fly in and land among the group. Several ducks stood up and with tail feathers wagging seemed to welcome them with their quacking. It appeared that the ducks didn’t have boundaries, and if they did, they overlooked them if crossed and didn’t get all excited and bent out of shape. They seemed to be more of a family community at peace and not looking for trouble or nit picking each other. During the time I was observing, I noticed that as the sun moved the ducks would all stand and relocate back into the shade of the trees. I found that fascinating.

As I was writing about the ducks, I remembered Psalm 91:1. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”  If we as Christians are abiding in God’s shadow (presence) we should possess the kind of grace and peace that isn’t easily offended when someone crosses our path or boundaries. I do believe that having some boundaries in our lives is beneficial and healthy. I have some self-imposed boundaries that I won’t cross, because in so doing it would be a sin against God, His Word, and my own conscience and convictions. Boundaries can protect us but can also isolate us if implemented in a legalistic manner without consideration of others. They can evolve into walls with no gates or doors which deny access and can limit our relationships. On several occasions Jesus’ disciples tried to prevent people from getting close to Him. They had developed an attitudinal boundary that said, Us Four, No More. They were shocked that He was even speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. He had crossed a long-held boundary that Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans. They also tried to keep children from coming to Jesus, and they warned blind Bartimaeus to be quiet when he learned that Jesus was passing by. They had not yet discovered that Jesus’ life was an open book giving free access to everyone, which became a stumbling block to the Pharisees. Many times, He crossed their boundaries they had set up through their traditions. He ate with tax collectors and sinners, healed on the Sabbath day, didn’t wash ceremonially before eating, didn’t fast, and He did and said many other things that ticked them off. They were so obsessed with their boundaries that their hearts became hard as it says in Mark 3:5. Multitudes were following Jesus which made the Pharisees fear that the Romans would come and take away their place (position of control) and nation. That was at the heart of why they planned to kill Jesus. They acted out of fear of losing their control over people. It’s no different today. Sometimes people set up boundaries out of their desire to control situations and others, cross them and they come at you with a vengeance, just like the geese.

As little kids we used to play a game called Duck, Duck, Goose. Everyone would sit in a circle facing inward. One kid would be “IT” and would walk around the circle touching each kid on the head saying duck. If they said goose, they took off running and that kid would get up and give chase trying to tag them before they were able to complete the circle and sit in the place they had been. If they couldn’t, then they became the new “IT”, and the game repeated the cycle.

In conclusion: How do you tell a goose from a duck? Touch them the wrong way and get ready to run or fight.