To some, it would be easily described as a chore.  But the mere connotation of something obligatory, and worse yet, something dreaded is so far from my experience that I can only call it a chore in jest.  I stop by the coop with a breakfast of oats and mealworms for the girls.  It’s yet too early for the automatic door to have opened, but as I talk with the girls from outside the coop, I hear them jump off the roosting bars and even peck at the door.  Knowing the eager parade of feathered excitement that awaits, I happily open the door myself, and chuckle at the onslaught of chatter and energy from seven crazy chickens.  The oats and mealworms are greatly appreciated and quickly devoured.  I open the window on the coop from inside the run before making my departure to go around to the coop and the remaining windows. 

When I step inside the coop, Della comes in from the chicken door.  Abandoning the oats and mealworms is no small deal, and I know even more certainly that I have in the past few days that she is getting close to laying her first egg.  She jumps up on the small step stool I have in front of the nesting boxes and begins her quiet cooing.  It delights my soul in ways I cannot describe.  I know it makes me sound truly crazy, but it truly feels like a sweet conversation.  I give her a little pep talk and she hops up into the nesting boxes.  She’s done this before, but today she settles in more than previously and I know for certain today there will be an egg.  There is something very serene about a hen in a nest.  They are so quiet and still I often think they might be praying.  I relate more than I care to admit; enjoying my own solitude and quiet whenever I can and understanding the satisfaction that comes from doing even just one thing well. 

I have to leave for work before I see the results of her efforts.  But I carry this little moment, this simple peace, with me throughout my day.  

They say God speaks to us.  If only we are still enough to listen.  I hear Him.  His creation speaks to me.  In the soft cooing reassurances of a bird, I hear Him say, “Be.Here.Now.”  And I stand, in the coop, with Della and my Lord as company.  It is well with my soul.