Who looks for chickens in clearance?
You may be wondering, who looks for chickens in clearance? And why don't you see many chickens in clearance if you do look for them? I have a story that may help you with that.My friend Steve and I met while working for a retail furniture company that also sold home decorative accessories. While each of us has moved on, we have remained friends. Every now and again we meet for lunch and catch up on each other's lives. Sometimes we ramble about a bit after taking in a movie. Other times we pick up coffee and take a walk along the beach. On one particular occasion, we went browsing through the shops and stores in our area, just to see what treasures we could discover. One shop's specialty was scented candles and custom pottery. Another stocked all sorts of clocks and time pieces.
The last store we entered measured its worth in diversity: It stocked everything under the sun. But what intrigued us wasn't the discounted furniture, designer clothing or early-issue Halloween candy. What caught our attention was the home accessories clearance section. It was filled with birdhouses, ceramic dishes and statues, and all kinds of Americana items left over from the Fourth of July. Although I am no longer in retail, Steve still works as a retail manager and looks at this stuff almost everyday. As we picked our way through the merchandise, he mentioned that his supervisor had asked him how the abundant amount of chicken-themed merchandise stocked at their store sold. Steve said, very matter-of-factly, " I told him you don't see many chickens in clearance."
For some reason that struck me as incredibly funny, so much so that I laughed so hard I cried.
But, apparently, people love to use decorative chickens in all variety of shapes and sizes to make their homes feel special. Perhaps chickens warm our souls, evoking a simplicity of life that feels as if it is slipping away too fast to hold onto much longer. Somehow, chickens make us feel good, and we value that sense of contentment and peace they bring us. Or maybe. in scouring this assortment of treasures, we are really searching for something more, something deeply felt and mysterious that can only be called faith.
You Don't See Many Chickens in Clearance: Essays on Faith and Living was originally published as a series of articles for Creating Women Ministries, a website I founded to provide resources for theological education and dialogue. That is a fancy way of encouraging people to actually think about what they believe and define that in how they live their day-to-day lives. I have quoted my maternal grandmother, who passed on before I was born, quite frequently on this subject. According to my mother, grandma liked to remind her that, "Whether you know it or not, you live by what you believe." It is an interesting kind of legacy, to sort through the facts and circumstances of one's life in search of God's activity.
You Don't See Many Chickens in Clearance invites you to curl up in your favorite chair with a hot mug of coffee and browse through your own life in search of God's activity.
You Don't See Many Chickens in Clearance: Essays on Faith and Living
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Creating Women Ministries
http://www.creatingwomenministries.com
posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 5:42 PM
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