You Can Learn A Lot From A Goose

YOU CAN LEARN A LOT FROM A GOOSE

I.

EPHESIANS 4:1/ "I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called". PRAYER

Verses 2 and 3 go on to state: 2)"With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3)Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace".

II. Sufficet to say, I think that we all at times need to be reminded of the importance of how that we, as followers and ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ, need to be humble and show the love of Christ as shown in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 2 and 3...

But I’d like to focus your attention to verse one,

giving emphasis to the words WALK and VOCATION; as I introduce to you the subject: "YOU CAN LEARN A LOT FROM A GOOSE".

The first word of emphasis is WALK...

When we think of walking...most people don’t like to do too much of that today. I’ve seen people drive around mall parking lots for near thirty minutes just to find a parking spot closer to the door; or sit idle and block through traffic on the mall roads while waiting on someone to back out of a space so they could get their spot...and many times it’s only a few spaces closer than to the door than if they’d have just parked in the first available space!

So we can probably understand that there’s not a lot of "walking" competitions per se...walking is more geared toward health and exercise, although there are some, I’m sure.

Many walking events have volunteers that walk having been sponsered to do so by being given donations of an agreed amount for a certain cause for a known amount of distance to be walked...and this is a wonderful thing to participate in, when one sees the benefits of those that are blessed by these acts of kindness.

But what about a GOOSE? Many people think that all a goose does is walk around all day...pecking around for its’ food and living a life of leisure.

Strangely enough, people have associated other people into this line of reasoning, especially if they seem to be a little "out-of-step", so to speak, with the majority of society...or they don’t quite "fit in" to the crowd that most are associated with. I’m sure you have heard some of the phrases associated with this conduct or behavior..."He’s like a goose...he wakes up in a new world every day!"..."loose as a goose"....or "That one’s got no more sense than God gave a goose!"....but in my years I have learned..."YOU CAN LEARN A LOT FROM A GOOSE!"

I am reminded of a co-worker that I saw on the way to work one day very early in the morning...and as I passed by him, and saw that no one else was near us, I honked my horn and waved at him, but he never budged nor even looked over at me...he kept his eyes ’glued’ to the road ahead of him...and I thought of that saying that other co-workers had said about him..."He’s like a goose; he wakes up in a new world every day!"... And though I teased him about it a little, I realized that he had the right idea...looking forward to the road ahead was the safest course of action, but am also reminded that God’s instructions to us are to "go forward, not looking to the right or to the left"...and as the apostle taught: to "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus".

III. The second word of emphasis is VOCATION.

Again, ordinarily folks don’t consider geese as having a vocation...but geese FLY, don’t they? And if you don’t think that’s work, then you try flying! And for the hunters among us, I’m probably not telling you anything that you don’t already know...but...

"YOU CAN LEARN A LOT FROM A GOOSE!"

If we would consider that the flight of geese during their migration period as their vocation, then consider these facts about the geese as studied by Milton Olsen and use them as valuable lessons...

#1) Geese fly in a V-formation for greater range for the entire flock. As each bird flaps its’ wings, it creates an UPLIFT for the following bird. This adds 71% to their flying range than if the bird was flying alone. LESSON: People who share a sense of common direction and community get where they are going quicker and easier. And I will add here that this holds true for the family, the church, and the workplace... And, it is written, "A house divided against itself shall not stand".

#2) When a goose falls out of formation it feels the resistance of flying alone and quickly gets back into formation. LESSON: Stay in the company with those that are headed in the direction you want to go.