A few nights ago, as my wife and I went for a walk by our pond we were surprised to see a small alligator. Now, since we live in Florida this was not unheard of, but there had not been any alligators in our pond for a few years. A few minutes later as we made the turn around the end of the pond, we came upon a mother duck who must have also spotted that alligator, hurriedly leading her eight little ducklings to another pond. She had wisely decided that though the alligator was small, our pond was no longer a safe place for her babies!

As we watched her leading her ducklings with their tiny feet hurrying to keep up, I was reminded of the precious hymn, “God Leads His Dear Children Along.” The lyrics tell us that just like that mother duck, our Good Shepherd is watching out for us and leading us to safe green pastures. Sometimes the way is through the flood, sometimes through the fire, but no matter where He leads, He makes the way through the blood of Jesus. Our Good Shepherd knows the path ahead and no matter how steep the way, we need to remind ourselves that He always knows what is best for us!