Dining With Chickens

Who has dined at your table recently?

Tonight we had a fabulous family dinner outside on our deck with a few visitors; our chickens. No we didn’t eat our chickens for dinner they joined us.  And before you think I am a crazy chicken lady who started a blog I will give you some more details.  During the evening hours our chickens get to come out of their pen and scratch around in our lawn and flower beds looking for yummy morsels.  They sometimes like to come up on the deck and see what is going on in the house. (They don’t get to come in, except when they sneak, or the kids carry them in.)  Our chickens have a purpose but they are also pets.  Tonight they took advantage of their cuteness and talked so sweetly in their chicken talk, so we threw some pieces of our meal to them during dinner. The kids especially took great pleasure in the fun.  Now keep in mind we don’t allow our dogs in the dining room while we are eating and we don’t normally feed the chickens while we eat either.  They do get a lot of scraps from the kitchen but in their own chicken house.

Many of you might think we are crazy to be sharing our dinner with chickens which is just how the locals felt when Jesus bid Zacchaeus to come out of the sycamore tree.  In Luke 19:3-7 NIV we read that Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus.  He was too short though to see over all the people so he climbed into a sycamore tree to see over the crowds.  Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus.  Now he had a chance to maybe catch a glimpse of Him as Jesus passed by.   You see when Zacchaeus heard about Jesus it was a life changing experience for him.  He had a changed heart which changed his actions.  However, his neighbors weren’t buying into his good guy act.  But God seemed intent on showing Zacchaeus how much he cared.  Jesus called him out of the tree by name and told Zacchaeus He was going home with him.   I am assuming Jesus had a meal with Zacchaeus in his home that day.  I can only imagine what an incredible day that was for Zacchaeus to have the Savior call him out of a tree by name and to have Jesus in his home with him when no one else wanted anything to do with him.  In fact, the townspeople all whispered and sneered when Jesus told Zacchaeus He was going to his house.

So what does all this have to do with dining with chickens?  Jesus doesn’t just love the people that we think are worthy of His love and grace.  Unlike us God sees a person’s heart.  He doesn’t care if someone wears the best clothing or drives the fanciest cars.  He looks at the heart and He knows that a moment with Him in His glory can change your life for eternity.  He doesn’t simply want your scraps from the table though He wants to dine with you and have an entire full coarse meal with you daily.  He wants to be in your heart moment by moment, for the rest of your life.