In preparation for today’s devotional, I watched a bit of educational programming from 1934. It was nearly eight minutes well spent. The program appeared in theaters and featured the debut of a character who is now 92 years old. The educational film was The Wise Little Hen and making his first appearance was none other than Donald Fauntleroy Duck.
A part of Walt Disney’s Silly Symphony series, this color animation featured Mother Hen followed by all her little chicks. In a funny, clucking, sing-songy voice, she appears first to the home of Peter Pig, then to Donald Duck and sings, “Will you help me plant my corn?” Peter and Donald go from frolicking to writhing in fake pain, claiming to have a “tummy ache.” Mother Hen and all her chicks head to the field and laboriously plant their own field.
The corn field grows rapidly. Now, Mother Hen and her chicks go to the Idle Hour Clubhouse where Peter and Donald and dancing and singing together. Her song now is, “Will you help me harvest corn?” Remarkably, Peter and Donald suddenly come down with the same ailment. As they clutch their stomachs, they say that they have a “tummy ache.” Mother Hen has seen right through their lies.
After the corn is harvested, Mother Hen is busy in the kitchen, making corn bread, corn muffins, and corn soup. As she sits with her chicks, she gets a great idea. She again goes to the clubhouse. When Peter and Donald see her coming, they immediately start clutching their stomachs and squalling in mock agony. Mother Hen sings, “Will you help me eat my corn?” A miracle takes place! The two lazy boys are instantly cured, feeling better, and eagerly they agree to help eat her corn.
They follow Mother Hen home and wait outside while she goes in to fix them some food. She comes out with a bowl covered in a towel. Peter and Donald are drooling over the possibilities of what delicious food might be waiting for them. When they remove the towel, there’s nothing but a bottle. The label reads, “Tasty Castor Oil for Tummy Aches.” They knew they’d been caught and sadly go back to their club house, kicking each other in the rear.
Through the years, the Donald Duck character has grown a little less lazy, still very funny with his antics, but possessing a fiery temper that lights up over silly things yet calms down quickly. He is still one of the most famous and loved Disney characters.
Do you know people like Donald and Peter who are allergic to work? They will fake all sorts of illnesses and float a variety of reasons why they can’t work. But this won’t stop them from doing anything fun that they want to do. They’re too weak, tired, and sore to work on a project but they feel just fine to hook up the boat and head to the water with all their fishing gear where they will spend a day in the sun.
Mother Hen exercised a Biblical principle seen in 2 Thessalonians 3:10. “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” 1 Timothy 5:8 gives an even stronger message. “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
Looking throughout Proverbs, many passages reference those who tend to have the work
ethic of Peter Pig and Donald Duck. Proverbs 10:4 says, “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.” Proverbs 13:4 adds, “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.” And Proverbs 19:15 reminds us that “Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.”
Even in the perfection of the Garden of Eden, there was work to do. Before the fall, Adam was put in the Garden to “dress it and to keep it.” (Genesis 2:15) I fully admit that I have no clue what all that might entail since there was no curse. Whatever it was, though, was work.
Speaking of work, “God created the Heavens and the Earth.” Genesis 2:1-2 says, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (2) And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” This teaches me that work is not a part of the curse or the result of fallen humanity. Work is a good thing and those of us created in the image of God ought to work.
I hope that for each of us today, we will take Ecclesiastes 9:10 to heart. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
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