Which Matters Most--The Goose or the Egg?

Pity parties are strange occasions. But there’s just something about life that brings them on when we least expect them. Maybe it’s the weather change, a time of year, a holiday. Who knows what causes them? But sometimes there’s something that brings out our negative feelings without warning.

I believe that one reason some people get down is because of a lack of encouragement, recognition, and affirmation for who they are and what they have been created to do. People begin to feel like commodities, rather than valuable assets.

There is a great story called Aesop’s fable that is the story of a man who owned a goose. One morning he went out to the pen to get the eggs from the goose and found a golden egg. At first he thought that it was ridiculous to think a goose could lay a golden egg, so he simply threw it to the side. Then he thought about it and said to himself, “What if the egg really is a golden egg?” He took it to an appraiser and found out that it was pure gold.
The next morning the man went out to the goose’s nest and there was another golden egg. Morning after morning, the man would rise early and run out to the nest to find another golden egg.
Eventually, the man became incredibly wealthy. He also became very greedy and impatient. When he could no longer stand to wait until morning for his golden egg, he took the goose, killed it, and tore open its belly to get all the eggs at once. Of course, there were no eggs, and he had ruined the producer of his riches.


Sometimes we treat people like the man in Aesop’s fable treated his goose—we don’t really care about the geese, only the eggs that they produce.

The moral of the story is obvious: Don’t destroy the people, in order to get what you want out of them. It’s the people that are the true treasure.

How often are we pressed to pursue encouragement, due to a lack of appreciation for who we are as people? I would venture to say that in the church, we are too often asked (not overtly) to hide our strengths and keep our accomplishments a secret, lest we be heard as boasting.

What a shame. We should be shouting from the rooftops when we discover our purpose and our gifts.

I'm picturing that goose running out of the pen, screaming, "I laid a golden egg! I laid a golden egg!" and the man saying, "Stop bragging! Get back in that pen, hang your head, and make out like you lay the same kind of eggs as every other goose, or they'll think you believe you're better than them."

We have to stand out. God has given each of us a specific purpose. To borrow from Zig Ziggler, we are all created to be "meaningful specifics," not "wondering generalities." I don't think we should have to hide our gifts or have our bellies torn open for the goods. We are just to be who God created us to be, doing our specific part and being appreciated for who we are as individuals, without being ripped apart by greedy, hasty people. Instead, we are to encourage one another daily with care, concern, words of affirmation, love, and celebration for the person whom God created.

Grace and peace,
Johnny