The Lion, the Fox, and the Chicken
Do you remember the story of Chicken Little? HINT: “The sky is falling, The sky is falling!!” Chicken Little is actually an ancient fable passed down through centuries, with many adaptations and twists in meaning, from Old Gaelic to 21st Century animated movie about aliens! I recently stumbled across a version of the original written in English. It starts with a care-free Chicken Little who loves to walk in the woods and enjoy the simple things in life. Suddenly, an acorn hits him on top of the head! Unaware that the blow to his head was indeed only an acorn, he begins to flip out. Worried for the sake of all he knows and holds dear, he runs off in a panick to tell the mighty Lion what he has now understood to be, “The sky is falling!!”. He runs into many concerned friends along the way. Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky and so on. They believe everything he says and are equally concerned. They all rush off to tell the Lion together, when they come upon Foxy Loxy. Foxy appears as another character who is distressed by the news of the sky falling and after hearing the troubled friends plan of telling the Lion, poses a simple question, “ But, do you know where the Lion lives?” Stressed by the empending doom of the end of life as they know it, the commrades follow Foxy who claims to know the way. Thus resulting in horror, as Foxy fulfills his scheme to lure them to his lair and eat them all for dinner.
Phew. Surprise ending huh? I never knew it actually ended so harshly, but most of the old fairy tales do I suppose. This story has been changed so many times throughout history to fit whatever was happening in the world and teach a lesson to those reading. Chicken Little is usually seen as an anxiety ridden flake who can’t see the forest for the trees and sends everyone into a tizzy. Some versions have the friends surviving the ordeal and finally making it to the Lion and some send a message of rising up, so people listen to you even if you are a little chicken sometimes. I have another version for you.
The world as we know it is changing daily. It looks and acts nothing like the days of my ancestors. Not even like the years of my own childhood (which I like to believe wasn’t THAT long ago). The chaos and confusion, lies and deceit, and fear and dread seem to be falling like acorns from the sky, and growing in number and size each day. These enormous acorns hitting our heads have brought out parts of us I never could have believed. I’ve watched friends make enemies of other friends. I’ve seen calamity reach what I thought to be its peak in cities in my own country. I’ve also witnessed some who never knew what they were capable of, rise up and become the invisable heros behind the fight against an invisible virus. It all just makes you want to shout, “THE SKY IS FALLING!”
As Christ followers, naturally we want to run to Him and tell Him everything that is hurting us and ask Him to fix it! "Don’t let my world fall apart, God! Can’t you see these evil things that are happening? Don’t you want to do something about it? If anyone can stop it, you can!!” We have intense conversations with friends and family and sometimes they agree we need to pray and do more to alert others to the truth we believe. Along the way, we encounter some seemingly caring and educated people or begin to have thoughts on how we could fix the horrible situation on our own! The familiar voice of this fox is calm and on the surface very reasonable. We get side-tracked from taking the danger to the Lion and fall into a path that leads the opposite direction. We find ourselves saying harmful things to others that disagree with us, working overtime to control the uncontrollable, and sinking into the feeling of despair and darkness even more. (Here’s where I get to put my own spin on this fable.)
As soon as we feel all hope is lost, the Lion shows up in the worship service on Sunday Morning or in the quiet time spent alone at home. You listen. He reminds you He has been working all along. He reveals to you that the pain you felt was only an acorn and not the sky because He holds the sky in place and would never allow it to crush those that love Him and He knows you do, even when the Fox distracts you.
Our world and lives are going to look different every day but God gives us these promises and guide lines to live by in the Bible. In Galatians 5:22-23 He says, “ But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” and the best one in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” So, it doesn’t matter how worried we are about the sky falling… the Lion will always be in control.
Comments