Diversity

I am currently starting round 3 of raising chickens from chicks. My first batch had 5 chicks which I was able to raise into 4 healthy chickens before they met their untimely end. The next batch included 3 chicks that I raised into healthy chickens but each had a distinct demise, though not all of them were unintentional. In the end, of the 7 chicks I’ve raised and the 2 chickens I was given by a friend, I currently have 1 chicken in my coop…not a good percentage.
And so, maybe contrary to common sense, I decided to get a few more chicks and start over. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a local store was getting them in and went to buy a few. Because of their required minimum of 4 chicks and that they had 4 different breeds, I thought it’d be fun to have a diverse group of chickens in terms of bird color, egg color and laying potential. So I brought one of each to bring home.
I think what I’m excited about most, though, in terms of their diversity is what they look like. From yellow and red to black and black/yellow mix, they are just so pretty. I love having a diverse brooder and that they all look so different.
But, I found it interesting, as I researched and asked the clerk, that a diverse group of chickens wouldn’t have any issues cohabitating. I guess I assumed there might be issues between breeds and that they’d be territorial because they were different. And maybe that assumption says more about me than it does anything else. Do I have a predisposition to assume that because they are different they won’t get along? Do I assume that the external is so important that even chickens would have issues?
So, maybe something is wrong with me, but I also think that’s fairly natural, too. As humans, I think we naturally gravitate to people, situations and groups that are more familiar to us. That look like us. That act and speak like us.
And I think that’s okay, but should we stay there? Should we just get comfortable with those who look, think and act like us and not branch out to learn more about other cultures, people and ethnicities? Paul writes in Colossians 3.11, “There is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” In Jesus, those outward things are not important. As easy as it is to stay with what is similar, Jesus doesn’t see those distinctions. We are all his children.
So, I pray that we, more and more, find ways to be open to new people, different groups and diverse ways of living. Because we are all precious in his sight, red and yellow, black and white. God bless.