Dear Boys and Girls,
Would you like to hear about the wild Canada geese that come to our creek every year? I know some of you have been here when these big, beautiful birds arrive in the spring. It is a wonderful sight! So for those who have never heard or seen them, I will try to tell you what it’s like. They usually arrive back in the middle of March, and lots of times the creek and pond are still covered with ice.
First, we hear them coming. We hear them calling, “HONK, HONK, HONK!” Then we see them ... sometimes ten, sometimes up to a hundred! What a sound and what a sight!
You know, children, God has given us ears to hear and eyes to see. Proverbs 20:11Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. (Proverbs 20:1)2 Says, “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.” I hope that you are using your eyes and ears the right way and not in foolish things.
When these geese come in and land on the ice, Gramma and I always have a good laugh! As they land, they sit back on their tails, spread their wings out and slide along on the ice as if they are skiing! When they have all landed, I go to the barn and get a pail full of corn to feed them.
After flying about five hundred miles, the geese are very hungry. So I carry this bucket of corn down to the edge of the ice and then throw the corn out onto the ice. I call out to these geese and talk to them. Then I rattle the empty pail to let them know that there is food here for them. Some of these same geese come here every year, and they recognize the sound of the pail and know my voice. Then I make my way back up to the house where Gramma and I usually sit and look out the window at these lovely birds for about an hour. We marvel every year at God’s care of His creation, and we never get tired of it.
As the weather warms up, the ice will melt. Then I start feeding the geese on land. Each morning I take a pail of corn down to the creek and spread it around for them to eat. By this time, we only have thirty to forty left to feed as the rest have gone farther north. It takes about a week to ten days of talking to them and rattling the pail to tame them. Then I can walk among them and scatter the corn with them following me.
One morning I was late in feeding them, and when I opened the back door to go to the barn, they were standing by the door of the barn waiting for me to get their food! Amazing! Another morning I brought Gramma with me. Guess what happened? The geese swam out into the creek! As soon as she left, they came back. Do you know why? Because she is a stranger and the geese do not know her!
I thought about what the Lord Jesus said in John 10: “I am the good shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known [by My own]” (verse 14). “My sheep hear My voice ... and they follow Me” (verse 27). “A stranger will they not follow, but will [run away] from him; for they know not the voice of strangers” (verse 5). “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish” (verse 28). Boys and girls, I give these hungry geese food to eat, but the Lord Jesus gives us eternal life!
“Do all the geese come in to eat corn, Grampa?”
I’m sad to say that some don’t. As much as I call, some will not come in out of the water. And the Lord Jesus has said sadly in John 5:4040And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (John 5:40) that there are people who will not come to Him: “Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.”
Now, for you children who have never come to the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life, He is calling to you as you read this letter. Don’t be like some of those geese who start to come in but turn back just before they get to the corn. The Lord Jesus is calling to you, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)).
And for you children who are already one of His sheep, do you remember He said that His sheep will run away from a stranger? That’s what you need to do! If a stranger comes to you and they do not read from the holy Bible and if it does not sound like the Shepherd’s voice, you run away as fast as you can! They do not have the words of eternal life!
Now then, children, thanks for reading this looooong letter.
Lots of love from
Gramma and Grampa