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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 barnyard with a flock of tame
ducks who 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, Wally left the formation of wild ducks, made a
sharp dive to the left, and headed for the barnyard. 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 Wally 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, Wally looked up and spotted the flock of
wild ducks in formation, heading north. They looked beautiful up
there. And Wally was tired of the barnyard. It was muddy and
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, Wally again tried to lift himself
out of the barnyard. He simply didn't have the strength. Every
winter and every spring, he saw his wild duck friends flying
overhead, 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 barnyard
duck.
Sometimes we get
tired of being the kind of ducks we should be -- 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 barnyard ducks -- the worldly ways of
life.
But look what
happened to Wally. He thought he would just "check-it-out" for
awhile 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 barnyard ducks.
Addendum -- James
5:19-20 (NIV) "My brothers, if one of you should wander from the
truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever
turns a sinner away from his error will save him from death and
cover over a multitude of sins."
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