The Chicken Assembly Line

Ephesians 4:11-12 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ . . .”

The squawking and flapping of worried chickens filled the air. Their protests were challenged only by shrieks of laughter and the beating of my joyful heart. I took a deep breath and tried to memorize every detail of one of my favorite activities. It was again time to weigh and wash forty Cornish Rock Cross birds, out of which we would pick five trios of broilers to take to the county fair.

I don’t particularly love running through a smelly chicken coop, grabbing a nine pound bird, trying to get it to stay put on a scale, and struggling to wash its feathers while it flaps and scratches. But what I do love is watching our family, all seven of us, work together to accomplish a goal.

To complete this difficult task, we each had a job to do. While two brought the ornery birds, another held one on the scale, and still another took the weight and recorded it on a pad. We then tied colored string around each leg, indicating its weight, and put it in a group of others approximately the same size. After choosing three similar birds for each pen, we again cooperated to help with washing them. One by one we dipped them up and down in warm, sudsy water while gently rubbing the feathers with soap and bluing lotion until they were fluffy and snowy white.  Whew! What a job – but one that was made easier as each family member participated in his or her part of the process.

The Bible is filled with examples of people who work together to achieve a singular purpose. God equips each of His children with gifts with which they can help build up the body of Christ. Some are prophets, some are evangelists, some are pastors, and some are teachers to name a few. As each family member performs his or her work of service, we can all grow in our faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. Not every assignment is pleasant, but each is necessary for getting the job done.

When we were all finished choosing the pens and washing the birds we returned them to the newly cleaned coops – coops that some of our members had emptied of dirty bedding and filled with fresh sawdust. As I watched the happy chickens settle down and move towards the feeders, I reflected on our smoothly running machine. We accomplished a huge task as all family members pulled their weight.

You are all older now and there isn’t much time left for working together as a family to wash and weigh chickens. But I trust that as you each develop your God given gifts, all seven of us can still have opportunities to work as a team – this time for the purpose of building up God’s church and growing closer to Him. That will really make my heart sing!

Love,

Mama