Many years ago at a school carnival, bob and I acquired a bunch of ducks. Someone had donated them to the carnival for the auction, and nobody wanted them, so I talked Bob into buying them.
We left the ducks in their crate overnight, hoping they would settle down enough by the morning so they wouldn't try to run off when we let them out. I thought they would be so cute, just waddling around and quacking-wrong! When we let the ducks out of the crate the next morning, they rose up and flew to the nearby field or scurried off to the brush surrounding our yard. We had just assumed they would be content to stay where we put them. Bob was in favor of letting the ducks go free but I still wanted them waddling around the yard quacking so I insisted that we catch them.
We decided that we'd have to sneak up on them, but that was easier said than done. As soon as we got close enough to catch one, it would see us and fly to some other spot.
After a few times of this, Bob had an idea. He got out a dip net he used when he was fishing at the lake. The plan was that he would man the dip net and I was supposed to herd the ducks toward him, one at a time so he could catch them in the net. There we were, crawling on our hands and knees through leaves and brush, through tall grass, old rolled up fence, under cedar trees, anywhere a duck could hide, we were sneaking up with that dip net. I would try to shoo a duck toward Bob without scaring it into flying, and when it got close enough to him, he would slam the net over it. Then we'd both struggle to catch it and hold it down before it could wriggle loose. Sometimes it took a couple of tries before we could get a good hold on one.
It took us a couple of hours, but we finally caught every duck. We trimmed their wings so they couldn't fly away, and finally I had my waddling, quacking ducks-I thought. One thing about those ducks; I don't know what kind of ducks they were, but they didn't quack, they didn't so much as peep! We had them for a few years, and never once heard a sound from any of them! They did waddle though, and I did enjoy them for as long as we had them.
What does this story have to do with anything? What lesson can it teach us? I guess not much really. I just thought it was an entertaining story. But I can always find a lesson, or moral to the story, so I've been told, so I guess this one won't be any different.
You could say those ducks are like our actions. If you don't watch closely, your words and actions can get away from you. The Bible speaks about this in the book of James, chapter 3. The consequences of our words and deeds can fly away in every direction, and it is really hard to gather up all the results of what we do. Trying to explain or undo a thoughtless word or action is hard to do and sometimes it even makes matters worse.
How much better it would be if we would just think sincerely about what we say or do before we say or do it. I have been guilty of this; saying something that was thoughtless or hurtful, and once something is said, you can't take it back. Even when you try to make amends, sometimes it is not enough, and may shatter the trust that others have had in you, for memory is hard to erase.
But the bright side is, our good deeds and actions also have far-reaching effects, and something you say or do that is good will also be remembered by others. We should always strive to be a good example before others. (Philippians 4:14-17)
So maybe there is a lesson to this story. Maybe we should think more about what we are going to say or do before we do it, and be like those ducks and don't quack...errr...speak before you think. (Proverbs 17:27)
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