I was on the way to pick up my taxes from my accountant this morning. As I made my way through traffic on Dixie Highway, I saw a tiny bird in the middle of the intersection, frantically running back and forth and trying to get to safety. It was terrified, no doubt, and I was terribly afraid that it would get hit. Soooo, I did what any normal person would do — slammed on my brakes, made an illegal U-turn, parked my car in the middle of the intersection, and jumped out of the car. Another driver had also stopped, and the two of us rushed over to herd the precious little bird to the side of the road. As I scooped it up into my hands and nestled it close to my chest, I saw that it was a fuzzy little gosling, so sweet and vulnerable and scared, with a teeny little bill and eensy little webbed feet. It was trembling from fear, and I tried to soothe it while I looked around for its parents. The other woman who had stopped pointed to a nearby yard, where two adult geese stood, looking worriedly at us from across the road. They were obviously searching for their baby, so I moved my car — baby goose in hand — and then walked slowly toward the nervous parents. But the closer I came, the further away they moved, until they eventually took flight.
I had no idea what to do. I started walking in the direction in which they had flown. I stopped a passer-by to ask if he had seen two geese in the vicinity; he looked at me as if I had gone mad until I explained the situation. He hadn’t seen the geese, so I kept walking. I came to a street that wound to the left, up a small hill. Something told me to turn up that street. I did, and as I came to the top of the hill, I saw two beautiful ponds surrounded by a little park. Seeing no sign of geese at the first pond, I moved on to the second. There, I saw two male mallard ducks and one female, placidly floating in the pond. No geese, however. I decided that my best hope was to get about half-way down the sloping bank of the pond, and then to leave the little gosling there in hopes that Mama Duck would notice the helpless baby and move in to protect it. It worked for the Ugly Duckling, so I had faith that it would work for this beautiful baby goose. As I prepared to place the baby on the grass, I kissed the top of her (I coudn’t think of it as “it” anymore) little head, promised her that I would not just leave her there if no one (duck or goose) came to the rescue, and asked God to bless and protect her. I laid her gently on the grass and then slowly backed away toward the top of the hill. There I waited and hoped and prayed, focusing all my energy on calling in the baby’s parents and asking over and over for Mama Duck to come and comfort the gosling until her parents arrived.
Sure enough, after just a few minutes, Mama Duck made her way over to little goose, who came scurrying down the bank to snuggle in next to her. I started to cry. Then I heard honking in the distance. Mama Duck started quacking, as if calling to the geese, “Over here! Over here!” I could faintly hear little goose, too, chirping as loudly as she could alongside her stand-in mama. The honking grew louder, and before I knew it four geese appeared. They flew in and landed on the adjacent pond. Two of them then began to slowly move toward the other pond, where Mama Duck and little goose waited on the grassy bank and the two mallard ducks stood guard at the water’s edge. As the two geese approached, the mallard ducks moved in unison into the pond and then down the bank a bit, almost as if they were opening the gate to allow the geese to enter. The parent geese were ambling over to their baby as I said a tearful prayer of thanks, asked God’s blessing and protection for all six of them, and then turned to walk back to my car.
I am humbled and joyful and just awestruck at the absolute perfection of it all. That such a series of miracles could take place at that moment in that location, and that I was privileged to witness it…it took my breath away. The wonder and power of nature and the indomitable nature of love. Divine grace is all around us. I am so grateful.
