Isabella's Chicks

This week I’m revisiting my old friend, Ed. You may remember him. He’s the ninety-two year old man who taught us about “The joy of a thankful heart”; about “counting our blessings, not our birthdays” and the danger of “getting old before our time when we get old in our minds”.

I unexpectedly encountered Ed in the hospital before he died a few years ago. He hadn’t changed a bit. Sitting in his chair, draped in a hospital gown, with a wide smile on his face, he declared, “I’m using those words, ‘thank you’, while I’m in here. Every time one of the nurses does something for me I tell them, ‘thank you’. They really appreciate it and it doesn’t cost a cent.” Instantly I knew I would eventually publish this story that Ed then shared with me. Listen as Ed blesses you with this sixty year old memory:

“I took some envelopes to the post office at about four-thirty in the morning so they would get to the depot in time to go out on the morning train. Back then (1940’s) the post office window was open all night. You could go there any time. While I was standing at the window I heard a bunch of baby chicks cheeping. There were fifty baby chicks in a great big box. I asked the fellow where all those chicks came from and he said that someone ordered them but decided they didn’t want them. He was stuck with them so he asked me if I wanted them for the cost of the postage, about two dollars. I thought, ‘Isabella could probably use them.’ She bought chicks and raised them for food.

Ed continued, “Isabella was a black lady who did housecleaning for my wife, Mary, and I. She did cleaning for four or five other families too. Everyone loved Isabella; you couldn’t help but love her. She never said an ill word about anybody. We didn’t look at color we looked at her heart. Every thing was ‘praise the Lord’ with Isabella. She had so much faith. There were times when she didn’t have a bite to eat in the house, but she would still set her table like someone was coming to dinner. Then someone would show up with food.

Getting back to the chickens, I took them home in the car. You have no idea the noise that fifty baby chicks can make. I called Isabella that morning and told her I was coming over with the chicks. She told me, ‘Boy-oh-boy, praise the Lord. I didn’t have any money to buy any chicks and I’ve been praying.’ When I got there she had everything all ready. She had a pen made in the house with newspaper spread on the floor. She had one of those infrared lights for heat. You usually lose some chicks but she raised all fifty of them and didn’t lose a one.”

What faith Isabella had! I don’t know about you but my faith pales in comparison. In the Book of James we are told, “…You do not have because you do not ask God.”(James 4:2) Why don’t we ask? Could it be that we really don’t believe? In the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews we are told, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Now for the more painful reality; James added, “When you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your own pleasures (James 4:3). Selfishness and self-centered requests, Ouch!

I think we sell God short, don’t we? We fail to see Him as the loving, caring Father that He is. But like any wise and compassionate parent, He may not give us everything we ask for, but He will certainly give us everything He knows we need. So in conclusion and contrary to what we’ve always been told, maybe we should “count our chickens before thy hatch.”

“…So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'…your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:25-34)