Lesson Learned from a Duck in the Barnyard.

James 4:7 (New International Version)

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

A flock of wild ducks were flying in formation, heading south for the winter. They formed a beautiful V in the sky, and were admired by everyone who saw them from below.

One day, Wally, one of the wild ducks in the formation, spotted something on the ground that caught his eye. It was a barn yard with a flock of tame ducks that lived on the farm. They were waddling around on the ground, quacking merrily and eating corn that was thrown on the ground for them every day. Wally liked what he saw.

"It sure would be nice to have some of that corn," he thought to himself. "And all this flying is very tiring. I'd like to just waddle around for a while."

So after thinking it over a while, Walley left the formation of wild ducks, made a sharp dive to the left, and headed for the barn yard. He landed among the tame ducks, and began to waddle around and quack merrily. He also started eating corn. The formation of wild ducks continued their journey south, but Walley didn't care. I'll rejoin them when they come back north in a few months, he said to himself.

Several months went by and sure enough, Walley looked up and spotted the flock of wild ducks in formation, heading north. They looked beautiful up there. And Wally was tired of the barn yard. It was muddy everywhere he waddled, nothing but duck doo.

"It's time to leave," said Wally.

So Wally flapped his wings furiously and tried to get airborne. But he had gained some weight from all his corn eating, and he hadn't exercised his wings much either. He finally got off the ground, but he was flying too low and slammed into the side of the barn. He fell to the ground with a thud and said to himself,

"Oh well, I'll just wait until they fly south in a few months. Then I'll rejoin them and become a wild duck again."

But when the flock flew overhead once more, Walley again tried to lift him self out of the barn yard. He simply didn't have the strength.

Every winter and every spring, he saw his wild duck friends flying over head, and they would call out to him. But his attempts to leave were all in vain.

Eventually Wally no longer paid any attention to the wild ducks flying overhead. He hardly even noticed them. He had after all, become a barn yard duck.

Sometimes we get tired of being wild ducks-followers of Jesus Christ. It's not always easy to be obedient to God and to discipline ourselves to hang in there for the long haul. When we are feeling that way, that's when Satan tempts us to "fall out of formation" and to join the barn yard ducks... the world... But look what happened to Wally.

He thought he would just "check it out" for a while and then leave when he wanted to. But he couldn't do it. Sin is like that. Sin is a trap, and it has a way of changing us into people we don't even want to become. Eventually we lose touch with who we really are ... the sons and daughters of the Most High. We become barn yard ducks.

Dear Lord we pray that we wouldn’t get tired of living our life for You.  We pray that we would be strong and be able to stand against the things Satan throws at us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.