Marriage Moats-Chickens

Published: Sun, 04/14/13

Marriage Moats

Caring for Marriage

We have had eleven chicks for a few weeks now. Feels like longer. Perhaps that is because one of the chicken whisperers I talked with before we embarked mentioned ten minutes a day as an estimate for daily care, and since the twins and I spend an hour or two with them we have revved up the time line. They have names and personalities. Gilbert and Marilla, Martha and Agnes, Nutmeg, Cinnamon and Paprika, Chia, Gingerbread, Sunshine and Beatrice.

When I first brought them home they all fit in a shoe box. They had been in a plastic bin for the week or so since they hatched but the kindly woman worried about them flailing in the car so she tucked them in a box with a flannel shirt. They didn't mind. She offered me her terry bathrobe, the one she had nestled them in up until then. She wanted them to smell her when she left them to sleep. Or eat. Or visit her grandchildren who are human.

But since living on Alden Road their world has been a green tub with a net over the top to discourage the Orvilles among them. Now that the temperature outside is chick friendly we have them in a coop during the day. I ordered it before I knew the number of birds in our future and it is definitely a starter condo for two, not a ranch for almost a dozen. Still we hope it will suffice until Zack gets his hands dirty with lumber and wire. The girls and I let them out to play when we are around to protect them from roving mammals. Today I ignored the tasks I really should be scratching off my list and just watched them scratch instead. I was surprised by the affection I feel for fuzzy creatures who cannot speak, thank me or hold my hand.

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6

How is it possible that I care for them? Why do I care for them? It makes no sense. But I do. Do they know I care about them? Naaah.

When the dog across the street barked and they all squawked in unison, scurrying toward me I felt a surge of protectiveness. For chicks. Who cost a buck or two through mail order. Free shipping.

God seems convincing in His assertion that He will take care of me. Whether or not I pitch in to help. He even knows my name. Yet I find ways to worry about my marriage, or my kids even after they have flown the coop. The twins, who are barely double digits love them tenderly. Their hearts which are small enough to fit nicely in a twenty four inch chest have expanded to include these fledglings. How could I doubt the capacity of the Creator of heaven and earth to care for His little ones?

How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Matthew 23

Photo by Joy Feerrar

you can support us at