Bonnie: The Singing Chicken

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not better than they? Matthew 6:26

Every time I read this verse, I am reminded of my father’s pet hen and rooster Bonnie and Clyde.

Clyde was a multi-colored game rooster who had severe arthritis which prevented him from bending his legs as normal chickens do.

There was many a time when I found my dad sitting on the back porch reading the newspaper, and there was Clyde sitting beside him with his legs stretched out in front of him and his feet pointing to the sky!

Several years passed after Clyde’s death, when my father said “Vern, Bonnie has a blind date this Friday night do you think you could find the time to give her a counseling session?”

I said, “A date? Where did you find a date for Bonnie?”

My dad said, “I took out an ad.”

I said, “An ad? What kind of ad?”

He said it read:

Lonely young chick looking for companionship.
Must love long days in the sun,
sitting in the shade in the heat of the day,
and must love going to bed early.

I asked my dad, “Well, have you gotten any calls?” he said, “The  phone has been ringing off the hook all day!”

Bonnie is a beautiful white hen, who through sorrow and tragedy has always seemed to keep a song on her beak.

I mean, when she mourned through the death of Clyde and her second husband Claude, she kept on singing.

When some of her children were born with their feet on backwards, she kept on singing.

When she was attacked by a dog and my father was forced to stitch her back together with needle and thread, Bonnie kept on singing!

Several months ago, tragedy struck Bonnie and for the first time in my life, I actually heard a chicken breathe as she labored to live.

Amazingly, even when Bonnie could not move, she continued to sing.

When she could only sit up, she continued to sing.

When she could just barely stand in the cool of the shade, she continued to sing!

Several weeks ago, I went to visit my dad and there across the yard, with the setting sun reflecting off her white feathers, gracefully walked Bonnie, and she was still singing.

Dear friend, if Bonnie can sing through her adversities and travails, how much more should we whom the Lord loves?

So, please...please...please...seize the day by living for Christ, reading your Bible, spending time in prayer, loving your neighbor as yourself, telling others about Jesus, and let’s load up the car and go to church!