Last weekend, we went to Camp Sagola for UP Spring Retreat.  After church and potluck, Jeanette and I went for a relaxing walk by the lake that’s there.  We had a nice time chatting without the interruption of any kids or babies…until one came running straight towards us in the middle of the trail.  It was an adorable, fluffy, yellow baby bird of some sort.  We weren’t sure if it was a duckling or a gosling, but the webbed feet made it very clear that it was one of the above.  Jeanette and I weren’t sure what to do, but the baby bird just plopped right down next to us and wouldn’t leave.  We looked around for an irate mama goose or any other babies that naturally should be in the vicinity, but with no luck.  This baby was alone, shivering, and wouldn’t leave us.  To make matters worse, I knew that there was an eagle that lived right on that little lake.  We both knew this baby wouldn’t survive much longer without its mama.

We decided it would be best to take it with us and then find a wildlife expert to seek their counsel.  Immediately, I thought of Pastor Jim Nephew.  On our way to find him, we ran into our husbands.  They were not very supportive of our compassionate gesture.  Nethaniah’s response to our story was, “Haven’t you heard of the circle of life?”  Israel looked into my eyes and declared with conviction, “His eye is on the sparrow, Judy.”  They obviously weren’t there to see the desperation of this baby.  We didn’t choose the baby, the baby had chosen us!

We found Pastor Nephew and pulled him out of the afternoon meeting to tell him the story.  We learned it was a gosling and he told us that we should put it back where we found it.  He seemed quite sure that the mother goose would find it and he told us that the goslings often run around the beach area by the pond.  Even though we were still unsure, we trusted him and so we drove back to the site where we first encountered the gosling.  By this time, it had fallen asleep in Jeanette’s receiving blanket that we used to pick it up.  We found a nice spot in the area where the gosling would have a clear path into the water.  I got out of the car and placed the blanket with the gosling in it on the ground.  I opened up the blanket and nudged the baby, but it wouldn’t move.  I picked it up and place it on the grass.  It sat there for a while and then started shivering.  It was so hard to leave it there, but I knew that’s what we had to do.  I headed towards the car.  But then it began following me.  It sat right next to the tire of the car.  I picked it up and placed it back on the side of the trail but then right when I put it down and walked away, it immediately got up and tried to frantically follow me to the car.  Finally, I picked it up, placed it back on the grass, and just made a run for the car.  I jumped in and we drove off.  Jeanette watched from her rear-view mirror as the poor gosling ran as hard as it could, flapped its little wings, to try to follow us.  After a while, probably when it realized that it couldn’t keep up with the car, it stopped running.  We had left our baby in the dust.

This was such a heart-breaking experience.  I felt so misunderstood.  There was no way I could communicate with this baby that it was because we cared that we let it go.  A life in the wild being raised by its parents would be the best life possible.  It just had to endure this scary and lonely time for a while.  And likewise, God is often misunderstood.  When we feel abandoned and alone, when we wonder why He doesn’t wrap us up in safety and giving us the comfortable life we long for, and when the odds are against us, God longs to tell us that if we just endure for a while, it will be for the best.  He longs for us to trust Him.  He isn’t apathetic or too busy to intervene.  Every single circumstance in our lives has been weighed in the balance.  The amazing news is that God is never wrong.  He knows the end from the beginning.  He loves us with an undying love.

This baby has been in my prayers.  I do hope that it was reunited with its parents.  I’m not sure if we did the right thing, but I find comfort that God does care about our little gosling.