I couldn't just drive past such a serene family dinner. I had to stop and watch. I pulled out my camera and captured a few photos. First the babies stood together in a group eating. A little ways from their parents.
Then when I got out of the minivan, they took off running.
In the wrong direction.
Nooooo! I called out to them and told them that their parents were the other way. They didn't listen.
What did I expect? Half the time, it feels like my own kids don't listen to me. Did I expect to be a cross-species mother to six geese??!!
I jumped back in the van, following them, hoping to figure out a way to herd them back towards their parents.
Then Mom must have called out for them because suddenly they all stopped.
A few of them looked back the way they had come.
Still. Quiet. Listening.
Then they turned for home.
And took off running again.
I could almost read their little goosy minds:
"We hear you, Mom. Don't leave us. We're coming."
And in one furiously fuzzy blur, they sprinted past my van.
As I watched them make their way back to their parents, I thought to myself,
"There may or not be a deep lesson in there someplace.
It was great to watch the story unfold.
I am so glad I had my camera with me and that I stopped."
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Later on, as I thought about that scene and looked at the photos I'd captured, I was reminded of the teaching of the one I love most of all. He once spoke about being the watchman-shepherd to his sheep. He said: "The watchman goes on ahead of the sheep, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from her because they do not recognize a stranger's voice... My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."
1 comment:
This made me cry.
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