I had an idea to blog about toucans as as Analogy Challenge, and I thought I was going to blog about their bills and how they give them a distinct advantage in some way, and how everyone has different talents and abilities just as they have different trials and opportunities. The trouble with that idea is that it's not really clear what toucan's bills are good for. There are some ideas, like the ones listed in the Wikipedia, but none of them seem useful enough to make for a good reason for having such large bills.
Researchers have discovered that the large bill of the toucan is a highly efficient thermoregulation system, though its size may still be advantageous in other ways. It does aid in their feeding behavior (as they sit in one spot and reach for all fruit in range, thereby reducing energy expenditure), and it has also been theorized that the bill may intimidate smaller birds, so that the toucan may plunder nests undisturbed. Also, the beak allows the bird to reach deep into tree-holes to access food unavailable to other birds, and also to ransack suspended nests built by smaller birds.
Maybe it's mostly a thermoregulation thing, which sort of makes sense since the tropics of Central America and northern South America, where toucans, live can get pretty warm. Following a link to a BBC News report about toucans' bill's role in thermoregulation made the subject seem a little bit more interesting, but it's still hardly anything worth blogging about. I can't even think of a spiritual application for this trivia.
So, toucans are still on the list for the Analogy Challenge. I'll find something blogworthy about them eventually, or maybe I'll find a way to make thermoregulation blogworthy. Either way, it's going to take more research, and I have other things to get done today. The toucans will have to wait.
Oh, and just so this doesn't feel like a complete failure of a blog post, we all have unique talents and traits. Some people seem to have more talent than others. But what we don't often see is what trials those people have to deal with and what God expects them to accomplish with the talents that He gives them. In the church, we understand that where much is given, much is required, so if some of us seem to have larger, more colorful bills than others, it may be because God has bigger plans for what we should do with them.
Life is full of tests and trials for everyone. Everyone has different tests, trials, and talents, and I might even go so far as to say that some people may have more or harder tests and trials than others. To make the test fair, God offers us strength and ability equal to the tests He expects us to pass. To paraphrase Peter Parker's uncle, Ben, "With great [ability] comes great responsibility." The more you have of one, the more you'll have of the other (if I'm not mistaken). So, if you have a lot of blessings, God expects you to do a lot of good with them. If you don't, try not to be jealous of those who do - they may carry a greater burden than you know.
It's just too bad that that has so very little to do with toucans.
1 comment:
made me smile
Post a Comment