When You Have All Your Ducks in a Row

The antagonism has risen to a new level. After we housed and fed and entertained my daughter, son-in-law, three of the grands, and a grand-dog for five days—five days—we started finding tiny plastic ducks. Everywhere.

On our bookshelves, in the fridge, on the fireplace mantle, in coat pockets and backpack pockets, the spice rack, the pantry. I mean … everywhere. 

My daughter, son-in-law, and the grands are avid Oregon Duck fans while Dan, who attended Oregon State University, supports the Beavers. Generally speaking, this competition hasn’t made a difference in family dynamics. For the most part, the Johnson/Conn Ducks and the Lawry Beavers tolerate each other’s quirks and peculiarities.

Until last week.

We couldn’t get a straight answer from my daughter or the grandsons as to how 79 ducks ended up in our house. No one knew anything about the ducks. They were all innocent.

Payback will be fun. But until then, consider this ancient proverb:

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” – Proverbs 27:27

In ancient days, iron tools were sharpened with another piece of metal. The friction caused heat, which was necessary in order to have an effective tool in one’s tool belt. This verse refers to people rubbing up against each other through friendship and conversation and how that makes us sharper and wiser, and more refined.

I belong to a writers’ critique group, and we are iron-sharpening-iron in action. “Seriously? You want me to cut this part of the story? But it’s my favorite part!”

And yet, their critique, their iron-sharpening skills are always, always for the improvement of my writing.

I’m pretty sure the author of this proverb didn’t have our “excessive duck” situation in mind when he wrote about friction and the importance of people in our lives who help sharpen us. And yet, it has sharpened us. And as a result, we’ve come up with a brilliant idea of our own that says, “We were here.” (The ancient writer probably didn’t have revenge in mind, either.)

But what he did have in mind is summed up well by Jane Howard, an English novelist:

“Call it a clan. Call it a network. Call it a tribe. Call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”

Truth be known, I’m grateful for Dan’s clan and mine. We have more than one set of dear friends who are estranged from their closest family members. And their pain hurts our hearts. Dan and I both have kids and grands who like us, and who like each other, and I want to always recognize that as a priceless, iron-sharpening gift. Grace upon grace.

Quite honestly, we would get all our ducks in a row … if we could find them all.