A Crippled Duck Named Hope

This afternoon I took a walk with a young cousin and 2 of our young friends. We walked to the small lake near my house to feed the duck and fish. There were 7 mallards, 3 drakes (males) and 4 hens (females). One of the hens had a crippled left foot. It looked like her leg was at least partly okay, but her foot looked as if it had been broken or she was born crippled. In any case, if we saw her from the right side, we didn't notice anything different about her. But, when viewed from the back or right, we could see her left leg half dragging, half pulled up beside her. She used it a bit to swim, but she could not walk on it. She swam fine and used her right leg as if she were using both legs. The other mallards didn't pick on her, either. (If they would have, I probably would have been in that water chasing them away.)

As the boys and I watched her, I decided to name her Hope. The boys asked me why. I said, "Even though she's crippled and can't use her left leg, she still swims and walks fine. She's strong. Just because she's crippled doesn't mean she can't do stuff. She can give people hope because she reminds us that even though we may be sick, hurt, crippled, or whatever, we can still live. We can still do things."

Hope is living the life God has made her to live; it doesn't matter that she has a bum leg.We can still live the life God has made and called us to live, even if we're hurt, crippled, sick, stressed, feel unworthy, different, feel inadequate, or whatever. God provides what we need for what He wants us to do (Philippians 4:19). God provides for Hope, so why wouldn't He provide for us (Matthew 6:25-34)?

I don't know if we'll see Hope again, but I will be looking for her. If she's not a resident of our lake, I know God will still take care of her wherever she is, and I pray God will use her to give hope to many others. If she is a resident of our lake, I'm looking forward to seeing her many times.