Today, I went to feed some ducks that seasonally live in a pond nearby. Every season there will be a new batch of ducks to the pond. For the past few weeks I've seen a mother and her baby ducks. They were so cute and fluffy when they were little! Now they're growing and look more independent. There was one though that could never get any of the bread I was throwing. You see, his neck was kinda funny. It didn't stretch out like the other ducks. And he was slow. All the other ducks would run to the bread crumb. He tried, but he just never made it in time. I started noticing him. When all his siblings were in the water doing...what ducks do, he would just sit there. While everyone was slashing and quacking, he was just kinda... floating. Floating through life. I picked him out as the underduck. Of course, the majority of us will always root for the underduck. It's the compassion within us that allows us to do that. But for others of us, myself included, we can not only have compassion for, but we can identify with the underduck.
Have you ever felt like your circumstance is so different from everyone elses that theres no way anyone else would understand? Or maybe you feel like your the only one going through the test that you are facing? The real truth is that you don't have to be alone, you don't have to face life alone. Not only is God familiar with suffering (isaiah 53:3), but he gives us the opportunity to have community with one other (Galatians 6:2).
Maybe you may not identify with this underduck. Not everyone struggles with lonliness or isolation. But, there maybe someone around you who does. I wish I could say that there was another duck that was a friend and encourager to the underduck, but there wasn't.
For now, that underduck will have to live it out on his own, but you or the people around you don't have to.
Can you pick out the underduck?
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