Flamingos Talk… Chickens under the Bed…

Yesterday we visited Pensthorpe – a 700 acre nature reserve of woodland, gardens… and  lakes, that are home to a diverse range of ducks and geese.

Their publicity says: ‘Pensthorpe is the ultimate destination for discovery and an action-packed day out for the whole family. Here you can explore magical gardens, take a trail through our internationally recognised reserve, and get up close with feathered friends.’

A bit over the top… What did impress us was the sign which read ‘Flamingos talk at 12.00.’

We saw the flamingos later… Although they were making some interesting noises I don’t think they were talking.

In ‘Blood Sweat and Jesus’ Kerry Stillman describes her work in a Christian hospital in a remote Muslim area of Cameroon:

‘Taking care of a patient is a rather full-time job for the families, as it is customary for them to do all the patient care apart from administering medicines and dressing wounds…

…The under-the bed-space… stocked with all kinds of foodstuffs, thermoses of tea and porridge, water bottles, cloths, bowels, and occasionally a live chicken awaiting its doom.’

I imagined the response to chickens under the bed in our local hospital… a sign announcing ‘Chickens talk at 12.00’… what the chickens might say if they knew the fate awaiting them.

At Pensthorpe we purchased a bag of bird food; Grandson-Luca was entertained for several hours feeding the ducks and geese. Many geese had young families. The goslings were adventurous and fearless; their goose-parents were very protective, hissing if we went too close. There was no sign ‘Geese talk at 12.00’; it was pretty clear what they would say…

I remembered Jesus’ words: ‘How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.’

I mused on the caring character of Jesus presented by this picture… my response to this character… And if the sign said ‘Hen talks at 12.00’ what would be said to me.