Chickens and Ducks!

Every year ,our children sit by the Christmas tree and open all their presents. It is always an exciting and happy time. It brings us so much joy watching our children opening their gifts and to receive exactly (sometimes) what they’ve wanted.

One Christmas, my wife called me in the kitchen and said, “Let’s give some chicken and ducks to a family in need.” Frankly, I didn’t know what she was talking about. But then she showed me a gift catalog from World Vision. Sure enough, there was a picture of a little boy holding a chicken. And according to World Vision: “Chickens and their eggs are a beautiful gift of nutritious food for a hungry family. They are easy to breed. Each family that receives chickens can sell the offspring for extra income or share them with other families in need. So, chickens can grow and multiply to create income, be shared with neighbors, and ultimately make a better life for a whole village. And the families who receive ducks, benefit from hundreds of large, protein-rich eggs all year long. Extra duck eggs and hatched ducklings can be sold to buy medicine or help send a child to school. A duck also offers valuable down-feathers, famous for their thermal insulation and padding — great for use in bedding materials and warm clothing, or to fetch much-needed income at the market. Ducks even produce fertilizer that can dramatically increase crop yields!”

After reading the catalog, we called the kids in the kitchen, and as a family, we decided that we will give the gift of “Chickens and Ducks” through World Vision. The chickens and ducks are one of my favorite gifts we have ever given. Yes, they will help the families in their social and physical life, but our hope is that, through our gift, they will come to know God’s love; that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice so anyone who believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life.

We will never know the families who received our gifts, but we imagined that it will be an exciting time for them. We imagined—just like we have so much joy watching our children opening their presents—those parents also will be full of joy and happiness. Our prayer is that our gifts will point them to the ultimate Gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life. He is more essential for life. He and He alone can provide for all of our needs. The physical gifts will pass away, but His gift of life is everlasting.