We just finished hatching some baby chicks. We have done this many times in the past, but this one was different. Because there are so many jobs on the farm, the kids have started taking on more responsibilities, so Rebekah got to learn how to run the incubator. One of the days when we had several chicks hatched in the incubator, she told me that some of them looked good, and some just laid there like they were not doing good. I told her to give it a day.  They were probably just exhausted from being born.  Sure enough, the next day they were fluffy, happy, and healthy.

When they first started hatching, Rebekah would hold them up to her ear so that she could hear them cheeping. She had the biggest smile, and you could feel her excitement.  Seeing these baby chicks hatch with Rebekah has reminded me of three things. First everything is in God’s plan; second life is a test, but He never leaves us; and third He wants us to be a part of Him and to take part in His plans.

God’s Plan is God’s Plan
When we started hatching the chickens, I told Rebekah that about half of them would hatch and a few more would die. We don’t know why some of the chicks die.  They just do. Sometimes life can be that way. When something in our life happens, we don’t always know why. However, what we can be assured of is that God is in control of every situation. His will is His will, and He will do what He will do. I have to trust that He is in control.

In Isaiah 55:8-9 it says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Whatever God thinks is best, He will do. It isn’t our job to argue with Him or think that we can do better. We just have to trust that it is in His hands. He has created everything and owns everything including us. This helps to understand that I’m not in control.  All I am really in control of and responsible for is acknowledging that it is all His and His plan. I can’t control the things around me anymore than I can keep those chicks alive.

Life is a Test
Some weeks, months, or years seem harder.  I cross one hurdle just to see another in front of me.  Sometimes I think I know what those newly hatched baby chicks feel like.  I just want to lay there exhausted and wait for my feathers to fluff back up.

Something interesting about baby chicks is that if you help them too much when they are hatching, they will often times not be strong enough to survive. The struggle and the process of hatching gets them ready to survive.  I wonder if God watches us trying to break through our struggles. If He watches us knowing if we keep going, we will be something better than if we stay in our shells.

Lately God has been reminding me that this life is simply a test. He put His spirit inside of us like an embryo in the egg. Then He puts us through struggles to help that embryo grow.  Eventually we die and that spirit hatches from its shell. Everything that we have gone through has helped our spirit to be exactly what He wanted it to be. The answer to the test is will we give Him thanks in all things, or will we choose to control our own life?

Friends with Him
I have always enjoyed hatching eggs. To see life grow and be born is a neat experience.  However, hatching them with someone else is so much better.  Seeing Rebekah’s excitement made it even better for me.

I think this is how God feels and is part of the reason He created us. When He put Adam and Eve in the Garden, He wanted them to see all He had done and enjoy it with Him. He even gave them jobs allowing them to take part in creation with Him. I have no doubt that God was delighted when He brought all the animals to Adam to be named. This is still what God wants from us – to take part in His plans and His creation.

We can do this every day by loving each other and spreading the good news of Christ and who He is.  We do this by being obedient to what He asks us to do. In Psalm 147:11 it says, “The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.”

– Written by Jeremiah

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