The rooster of our flock takes his responsibilities toward the hens seriously. He is ready to defend them against predators many times his size and is always on the lookout for something for them to eat. He excitedly calls to them and makes much ado of scratching and pecking at whatever treat he has found. He picks up bits and places them in front of the hens, and he waits until they have had some before eating any himself.
We have often marveled at this unselfishness displayed in a creature who is not supposed to have any reasoning ability. We talk about the lessons that humans could learn from watching him like the biblical characteristics of care and consideration and putting others before oneself.
He does have faults, of course, as all of us living creatures do. He demands subservience and no hen is fast enough to escape his attentions, wanted or otherwise. And he is quite a braggart. He proclaims himself loudly from every high place he can reach.
An amusing, but thought-provoking habit which he has is to give himself credit for even the food that we give them. As we feed the chickens, and the food is obviously coming from our hand, he makes much of himself. He makes a big show of throwing it around as if saying, “Look what I have provided for you.”
Here is the basis of a lesson for us. How often do we give ourselves credit for blessings that come from our Father’s hand? Ecclesiastes 5:18,19 tells us that the food we eat, and even the daily work that we do to provide our needs, are all a gift from God. “Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.”
It is, therefore, never appropriate to feel proud of what we have or the occupation that made our earthly goods possible. We hope never to appear as the foolish rooster who says, “Look at what I have done!” when that claim belongs to God.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One