What words would you use to describe this duck? There are obvious descriptions like brown, swimming, floating, feathery, and so on. Then you could get fancy and say things like fowl, mallard, drab, dabbler, and social.
Have you ever seen a duck fly? How would you describe that movement? I’m pretty sure your description does not include the words “graceful soaring!” That would be reserved for other birds like hawks and eagles. Ducks don’t gracefully swoop like swallows and swifts, either. Their flying is much more laborious, and only seems to be useful for escaping threat or for getting from one place to another. It does not look like ducks are having fun when they take to flight!
So who on earth would want to be a duck? Well, perhaps a hawk may be jealous of the duck’s ability to effortlessly float along on the surface of the water! Each one was created for its own lifestyle of finding food, and neither is really any better than the other. One is graceful in the water, and the other elegant in the air. Hawks have talons for catching prey, while ducks have webbed feet to propel them through the water. Hawks have hooked, sharp beaks for ripping flesh, and ducks have bills for foraging a wide range of foods like seeds, vegetation, earthworms, and snails. Both migrate, but have very different patterns of travel in North America. Look at the map of the hawks’ migration flyways (Hawk Migration Paths), and you discover that they are limited by high mountains, oceans, and large lakes. Compare that to the ducks’ migration flyways (Duck Migration Flyways), and you can see that ducks have much more variability in their flight paths.
Just as ducks and hawks were created very differently for vastly contrasting lives, you were created to fill a specific role in this world. Don’t look at others wishing you could be __________________ like they are, or do ____________________ like they do, because you have your own assets they may wish they had! As a Christ follower, what abilities do you have that you could put to use for your Creator and Heavenly Father? Did you know that you were not only created and planned for this place and time, but things were prepared for you to do while you’re here? Ephesians 2:10 says,
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (NLT).
You may be gifted in craftmanship like Bezalel and Oholiab (Exodus 31:1-6), or perhaps you are good at teaching, or serving, or encouraging, or leading, or giving…the list is endless!
“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well” (Romans 12:6, NLT).
Open your eyes to see where He has put you, and look for the good things He planned long ago for you to do. You may be surprised to see how those things fit with who He created you to be! Step into your good works, and find fulfillment in joining God in His plan of redemption.
Lauri Hawley 