Gobble Breath

Turkey’s tend to gobble a lot. 

In our neighbourhood we have lots of turkeys.  Recently we counted 47 as they hurry past our house on their way to foraging for the day.

It is not unusual to see them – or hear them – as they leave their roosting spots to move about for their day, then again when they come back at dusk to roost for the night.

If we time it right we can step outside the house and make noise – like a fake gobble and they all gobble right back.  With so many in the flock, it is quite a racket!  A chorus that is not at all musical and echoes across the ridge.  But it is fun to get such a noisy and instant response!

This week as we were on the road we had a good laugh at some turkeys.  We were approaching two turkeys just off the side of the road.  To urge them away from the road, Al hit his truck horn.  Immediately we could see by the turkeys thrusting their necks forward they were gobbling and answered to the sound of the horn.   In the coolness of the morning, the turkey’s gobble breath burst out of their beaks in a frozen cloudy puffs.  For us in the vehicle, their gobbling voice was silent, yet we seen their actions and breath.

It just really struck us funny in the silence of the vehicle, yet seeing the obvious racket the turkeys were making.

The turkey is soooo….turkey!

Everthing about them breathes turkey.  They move through their foraging area in a flock, constantly looking for food.  Scratching and eating what they can find.  When danger approaches – like a boy chasing them – they take a rather cumbersome flight and roost in a tree.

In the right season the males strut and show off their feathers.  Then the hens remove themselves to nest and raise their young away from the tom turkeys.

The turkeys live and breath just exactly what they are.

Ponder This

Seeing the turkeys movements and breath, yet not hearing their voices made me think of our lives.  

Sometimes we speak and do not know if the sound of our voices are heard.  Like the many words that our children hear us speak through the day.  Yet there is also our very breath that goes out into the lives around us.  It is seen in our attitudes and actions in so many details.

I have an aquaintance that speaks bad of those that around them, calling them unkind names and talking down about them, like they are lower than their own position.

The breath of these actions tell me that this person would be calling me names and talking down about me to others, even though it is not to my face.

When someone looks at me and thinks she is soooo…?  What do they see?

I have to look at myself and ask if I am a true person – one that walks and acts  what I am speaking.

I wonder what they would fill in to describe me.  Sheila is sooo….

It could be so … human, so …self-centered, so…busy.

I would wish for others to see kindness, grace, peace, and an all around Christ-likeness.

Is my breath just Gobble Breath – a whole lot of unwanted noise?  Or am I breathing out the very essence of Christ?

Proverbs 18:13 – He that answereth a matter before he heareth [it], it [is] folly and shame unto him. 

(SO TURKEY!). I think if a mountain lion roared, the turkey would answer with his silly gobble – and be gobbled up.

Proverbs 17:28 – Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: [and] he that shutteth his lips [is esteemed] a man of understanding.  

For me, I so often need to shut my lips – stop gobbling – and listen instead to what the Holy Spirit is saying, then speak or act accordingly…

2 Corinthians 5:15 – And [that] he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

…and live more fully for Christ who died for me.

~Sheila

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