You Weren't Meant to Waddle

Once there was a pleasant little town, much like many other pleasant little towns, but this one was populated by ducks. There were white ducks, yellow ducks, green ducks, multi-colored ducks; ducks of every size and age. And everywhere they went… they waddled. They waddled here. They waddled there. They waddled everywhere. And when Sunday came, they waddled to the duck church, and sat in the duck pews, and listened to the duck preacher, as he preached his duck sermon.

On this one particular Sunday, all the ducks had waddled in and were anxious to listen to their favorite duck preacher preach his duck sermon behind the duck pulpit. But this Sunday would be different from all the rest.

For as the duck preacher got up to preach they caught a glimpse of fire in his eyes, and there was a whole different demeanor about him. The ducks of Duckville could tell… he was inspired. And so the duck preacher began:

“Fellow ducks. You weren’t mean to… waddle! You were meant to… fly! Over hill, over dale, over forests, over lakes. You were never meant to waddle. You were meant to fly!

And the ducks of the Duckville Church thought, “Well now, that’s a novel concept. And they continued to listen as the duck preacher waxed eloquent. And the longer the preacher preached, the louder and more inspired he became. And the louder he preached, the more enthused, and outrageous the ducks in the duck pews became.  And they began to shout, and clap their… well, wings. And some even flapped those wings a bit, as if they were practicing for the real thing.

And as the sermon wound down, the duck preacher said, “And so my fellow ducks, I leave you with this admonition, and please remember this bit of important information. “You were never meant to waddle. You were meant to fly!”

And finally, the duck preacher said the benediction, and offered a final prayer, and the hundreds of ducks in the duck pews realized that they had heard, possibly the most singular and most important sermon their duck preacher would ever preach. And his final admonition rang in their heads as they prepared to leave the church.

And when the closing prayer had been said, all the ducks arose from their pews, and… waddled out the door.

 Paraphrase of anonymous story by William McDonald, PhD