When my daughters started getting into showing fancy poultry at the fair and shows, we decided to begin hatching chicks ourselves. When we purchased our incubator, to set our eggs in for hatching, we loaded it up and headed home. Our daughters were ecstatic and ready to dig in deeper to the show poultry industry. Lola, buckled in, expressed her excitement. Clapping her hands, she shouted, “let’s go home and make some chicks!” If only it were just that simple.

Exhibiting a show quality Old English Game Bantam chicken requires hatching a large quantity of birds in order to have plenty to sort through in hopes of raising birds that meet the standards. Each breed of chicken has its own set of American Poultry standards. Some varieties need a mulberry-colored comb while others call for a ripe red. The lacing patterns should only go just to the breast, not down the entire front of the body. A white toenail is an automatic disqualification. Raising high quality show poultry entails a lot of reading and studying. The American Poultry Association (APA) celebrated its 150-year anniversary last year. For 150 years, poultry had been classified with very detailed standards of perfection to which they are judged and sorted at shows.

My daughters keep breeding pens and detailed family tree charts for their poultry. Males are swapped between pens of either two or three females. Bloodlines are tracked and varieties are bred according to what they hope will make the best show bird. An incubator requires a specific temperature and humidity control. The shell of the egg needs moisture to ensure the chick is able to break through when it’s ready to hatch. So, when my daughter expressed the excitement to get home and make some chicks, we all laughed knowing how much work really goes in behind the scenes.

We all get excited and want things to happen instantly. Focused on the end result we can easily get mixed up in the emotions of our desires, forgetting all the steps that need to be taken first. Even in my own spiritual journey I desire for God to work things out certain ways or deliver specific results. It’s when I take a step back and tune into God’s plan that I can see the process in action.

Sticking fertile eggs in the incubator and getting a standard perfect show bird sounds easy enough, but it is a process that requires studying and patience. This is the same for our walk with God. It requires studying His word, prayer, patience and stillness. It’s a process. Until the day we take our last breath on earth, we will be a work in progress. Even when it feels like the eggs have been in the incubator forever, they are still forming and transitioning into what they are designed to be.

You’re never too old, too small, or too messed up to dig into a relationship with God. Even when you can’t see instant results, God is working. Let’s go home, and work on our hearts.

“Have patience, God isn’t finished yet.” Philippians 1:6

Contact Ashley at ashley@tippgazette.com

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Tippecanoe Gazette

Attn: Ashley Spring McCarroll

PO Box 84

Tipp City, Ohio 45371