Geese and Grace

One of the things I missed most while I was in France was Canadian geese. I've got scores of pictures of my sister and I feeding bread to flocks of geese, and on every trip back home, one thing I made sure to do was go look for geese to feed. Last summer, though, the only geese I could find were at a pond across from the church, and they apparently were not used to people giving out free food, for with every step I took toward them, they took 2 waddles back. So I guess you could say I'm having withdrawal symptoms from not being able to feed my beloved honking birds.

I was in France over 4 years before I discovered that there are Canadian geese there. Of all places, they were on the Seine in a town I'd actually lived in. Then on a trip to London I discovered their smaller cousins; they look just like our geese but are about half the size. I was in goose heaven. However, they weren't always on the river banks, and I wasn't able to go there often, so my goose sightings dwindled to "rien" (nothing).

So one thing I really looked forward to upon moving back to the States was seeing and especially hearing Canadian geese again. Imagine my joy to discover that every morning 2 honkers fly over the house, making sure everyone knows they're coming, on their way to a small pond a couple doors down. I haven't tried to feed these geese because the pond is on private property that was just sold in an auction. So I content myself with just admiring from a distance.

This evening I got a goose glimpse at, all places, church. I'd gone to a new Bible study. The room we met in was near the front of the church and facing the parking lot. At one point I looked out the narrow window and was pleasantly surprised to see a goose. He was clearly agitated, shaking his head every which way and honking loud enough for us to hear from inside. After the study I even got to take pictures of him and his mate as they waddled across the lawn. As I approached, they went the other way, with Mr. Goose showing me his displeasure with some more head shaking and honking.

So what does this have to do with grace? In tonight's study, which is based on weight loss, one of the verses we looked at was Acts 20:24: "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." When I was in France, especially the first few years, I had many lonely times. I feel God stripped away everything and everyone I depended on so I would totally lean on Him. It was during this time that I began to read and really study the Bible. I couldn't get enough. I've since learned that my "gift of the Spirit" is teaching, and I have been showered with so much grace and have been so awed by that concept that I believe that God has given me the ministry of teaching about grace (I consider myself still in training!). So I love coming across verses like Acts 20:24, and I relate to Paul. I feel that telling you about these geese is "testifying to the gospel of God's grace" in a way. For one definition of grace to me is giving me something unexpected, something I don't deserve but get anyway. When I see a goose, I'm awed by God's creation, feeling undeserving of witnessing such beauty but so glad I've been given the gift.

So yes, geese and grace *can* go together!