When a dutiful hen lays eggs, the care for those eggs is unprecedented. She lays them where she feels that they are safe. She lays each one at the same place each time until she has finished laying the ‘batch’ for that period.
She sits on those eggs to provide warmth for about 21 days. Those days of sitting on the eggs are days of sacrifice. The hen limits its search for food and water and limits its exploratory galanvanting to ensure that the eggs are properly incubated.
Then comes the hatching day. The hen watches as each egg hatches and even helps to ease any snag in the emergence of the young chicks.
With the hatching complete, the mother-hen, prowls around her environment with her chicks, showing them around, feeding them, and teaching them some life and survival tricks. As they stroll around, the hen protects her young ones from danger and predators. She does this until the chicks are all grown and can fend for themselves and protect themselves.
This is love – maternal love.
Any chick that strays out of the warm love and protection of mother hen’s wings gets intimidated and may even get eaten by a predictor
God loves us the same way. From life’s first aggregation in the womb to the first cry and final breath, He longs to be with us, feed us, honour us, protect us, defend us, preserve us, and receive us into life eternal. He has given us Jesus Christ as our Shepherd to lead us safely home. Why are you drifting away from the Shepherd’s fold?
You drift when you fail to get born again so you can be near Him.
You drift when you depend on others, your brain power, and strength alone, and think that you don’t need to involve Him in your affairs or you don’t even need Him!
Those who are far from God shall perish eventually (Psalms 73:27). Come to God in truth today. Don’t wait until you hear Jesus say to you: ‘How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.’ (Luke 13:34 NLT)