MAC
Mac was most endearing. I was captivated by his gaze. He was just out for his morning walk, but he stepped away from his walking buddies and let them pass him by. He waddled over to where I was standing and gazed kindly into my eyes. His gaze was inquisitive, as though he were saying, “Would you, could you, be my friend?” I was flattered, pleased, honoured by his gift of attention and interest in me.
Mac’s gaze crossed the boundary of green chains that dangled between us. It would have been so easy for either of us to cross that gentle barrier. But a greater gulf separated us and prevented our close union.
Mac is a king penguin living at the Calgary Zoo and I am a human resident of Longview. We live close enough for a friendship to be possible, but a friendship with a fellow creature on this planet has its limitations when the two are not of the same species.
Still, my brief relationship with Mac was satisfying, pleasurable and encouraging; it gave me a hopeful attitude towards future relationships with God’s creatures and His people. Mac’s fearless, friendly, engaging, curious and enquiring gaze reminds me how good it is to interact with others.
Mac continued to engage my attention as he cocked his head first to one side and then the other. Finally, he took one last long look and joined the other king penguins as they waddled down to the bridge at the bottom of the hill.
Later that day, as I was leaving the zoo, I visited the penguin habitat where Mac lives. King penguins, Humbolts, Gentoos and Rockhoppers all go about their daily lives there, diving, shaking water off their backs, feeding babies, scrambling over rocks or calling for a mate. We laughed at the crazy long yellow ear tufts of the Rockhoppers, but the king penguins in their smart black and white suits accepted them as normal penguins, which, of course, they were.
Suddenly, a certain king penguin leapt up onto the barricade that separated us and he gazed at me. Mac was back for another look! “Would you, could you be my friend? Could we be good companions in life, you and me?” he seemed to say and I thought he was going to jump down to be with me. Kindly penguin keepers came to provide a gentle buffer between us. Mac could do as he pleased, come down or plunge back into the cool water of his home; however it was clear that no encounter harmful to either of us would ensue. The penguin keepers provided a boundary between Mac and myself, but a good one. We had a boundary that gave us a safe space for good interaction where we could explore our relationship without fear.
Mac turned, dove into the water, propelled himself out onto the rocks and mingled with the other king penguins, calling with a loud raucous voice that he was single and looking for a mate.
Good choice, Mac! Some relationships are only meant to go so far. I will also seek amongst my own kind for companionship.
Sometimes I find a barrier stands in the way of developing a worthwhile human relationship and I am disappointed. Then I talk it over with God and I am amazed as I realize God has removed all barriers between Himself and us, even though we are not of the same species.
God is God and I am not. I am human and God is not, although, for a while, He did take on human flesh and live among us. We are so different and yet God invites us to be His friend. He dissolves the barriers between us and Himself by His love; He deals with the shame, blame and guilt that build a wall between us; He repeatedly tells us not to fear; His commands are set as barriers to help us not hurt one another or ourselves. God is a true friend with whom there are no barriers to a close relationship that is satisfying, pleasurable, encouraging and hopeful in all situations.
by Andrea Kidd
