You’re looking at a photo of “Wounded Wing”, a male Mallard duck that obviously has an injury to one of his wings. This duck cannot fly. I have seen him dozens of times, over a period of three years, along a greenbelt that I frequently walk through in my local community. A river does flow through it, or rather a spring-fed creek, which plays host to scores of ducks, mainly Mallards, who live there all year long.

In spite of a major injury, “Wounded Wing”, as I have named this injured Mallard, gets along just fine. When I first saw him I was certain the injury was new and that he would likely die from the inability to fly. Not true. He is as plump as the rest of the ducks. He can still walk and he eats the grass along the greenbelt walkway, then there is the stream where he dives down for his favorite snack of moss. It’s just that he can no longer fly, but it’s okay. It would seem not all ducks have to fly to survive.

Occasionally people will stop and “talk” to Wounded Wing, some expressing words of concern about his injury. But this tough duck has adjusted to his injury. He walks like a duck, he quacks like a duck, he eats grass and dives for moss like a duck, well, you get the point. He has moved on from his injury with one exception.

Wounded Wing’s territory seems to be restricted to a feeding area of around 150 yards by 40 yards. I have never seen him beyond that distance. But the space provides all his needs: food, shelter, water, other ducks to quack with, and well, whatever else he needs. Ducks may come and go, but not Wounded Wing. He has adjusted to a life of walking or floating to where he needs to go, and that has worked out pretty well so far for him.

God’s creation, yes, His creatures, can teach us lessons. Here is one of them.

In one sense all of us are the “walking wounded”. We are all imperfect. We all have had emotional injuries, or we may suffer from physical ailments of one kind of another, or we lack this or that. The list is practically endless of what we think we lack or how things are not going well.

It’s easy to get down on ourselves when we focus on our individual “wounded wing” list. Yet this is only causing us more emotional or spiritual damage, such as anxiousness, fear, isolation, self-doubt, feelings of worthlessness, emotional paralysis, discouragement and stress.

Rather, let us seek to invest our faith and energies in God. Let us not isolate ourselves because of fear, failure, or any kind of wounded wing injury, real or imagined. After all, God calls the wounded, then heals them and uses them to His glory. God gets us moving again. It is God in us, through His Holy Spirit, that does the healing and the overcoming.

Malachi 4:2 - But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves.

Psalm 147:3 - He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.

Wounded Wing has adapted extremely well to his circumstances. On my next walk I’ll probably see this gritty duck (with a minor injury, in reality) that is making do just fine.