Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

Over five weeks ago our youngest daughter began a major project.  First, we had a "chicken roundup", separating the Delaware (breed) rooster and 6 Delaware hens from the other breeds.  For almost two weeks she tended to and cared for the chickens and collected these eggs separately, keeping them at a "perfect" temperature.  Then she spent almost $20 of her "egg" money for another 8 eggs that she bought from a farmer who raises Rhode Island Reds.  For the next 21 days she kept a close eye on the 40 eggs in the incubator, watching temperature and humidity carefully throughout the day and evening.  That's a lot of time and trouble.

They were due to hatch this past Wednesday evening/Thursday morning.  Late Wednesday afternoon my daughter was laughing at me for being so childlike, constantly checking for signs of any peeping through the shells.  Just before we left for church, I invited some neighbor children to look at the eggs, thinking how educational it would be for them to see the "before" and "after".  I left the children with the incubator while I finished dinner, then we ate and rushed off to church.  Several hours later my husband and son arrived home, and my husband expectantly went straight to the incubator to check on the progress.  To his horror and disbelief, the temperature gauge was at 110 degrees!  Chicks will not survive but a matter of minutes in an incubator above 103.

So why do I share this horrific tale with you?  For sympathy or curiosity?  No, I want to share it with you so that you can understand the lesson I have learned.  Sure, I learned not to leave children (although they were not young children) unattended with something as fragile as eggs.  But the bigger lesson is what the Lord revealed to me this morning - do I leave my spiritually immature children in the hands of those who will not care for them tenderly and in knowledge and truth?  Do my teens, who are ready to "hatch" out into the world not need the same, if not more, careful "tending" as they did as young children?  It only took a matter of minutes to ruin what had taken weeks of careful tending to grow.  It only took me, as caretaker, one time of being careless.  It was my impatience to "show off" our hatching that had caused me to put the chicks in danger.  In my zeal to "teach others" I had placed our own at risk. 

So my lesson learned was more than about chicks and incubators.  I was ever so clearly reminded to be a careful, diligent steward of the precious gifts God has entrusted to me, before, during and after they "hatch".  Lord, help me to be more careful, consistent and most of all loving.  Amen.