......about the bottom side of a duck

     I was flipping channels the other day and came across the Animal Planet network.  I don't know the name of the program, but found myself watching the bottom side of a duck swimming across a pond.

     The camera was under the water, aimed directly up--at the duck's underside.  All you could see was a pair of legs and webbed feet....churning through the water like a precision machine.
     The scene soon switched to the topside of the water and you saw the duck gliding across the water with, seemingly no effort at all!  It was beautiful and graceful---flowing so smoothly---the water was almost motionless.

     I was just thinkin'.........how the church is sometimes like the bottom side of a duck!

     A lot of the work goes on "underneath" that no one really sees.  There's a lot of "paddling" going on "underwater"....that makes the church function properly.
     Most people don't see what all the pastor does on the "underneath side"!  Most people don't know what the church secretary does on the "underneath side"!   Most people are not aware of what all their Sunday School teacher does...on the "underneath side"!
     
     I thought about a passage from 1 Corinthians 12:

     "Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities,

 but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all......

There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God

who does the work in and through all of us who are His.

The Holy Spirit displays God's power 

through each of us as a means of helping the entire church."

(1 Corinthians 12: 4-7 TLB)

      Each one of us in the church have gifts, or "special abilities" that are needed to 'navigate' the church through life's waters.  And a lot of those gifts function "underwater"!

     That may be what Jesus was talking about when He said:  "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them.  Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven."  And He added, ".....do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."  (Matt.6:1,3) 

     If the job is getting done right "underneath", then what the world sees of the church on the "topside" should be a smooth, graceful, beautiful flow of God!

     On the surface, when it looks like things are cruising along smoothly and effortlessly....it means that, underneath, there is always someone paddling like a duck!

Tommy