Does Your Past Disqualify You? A Lesson from the Peabody Ducks

Every morning at 11, and every evening at five, they roll out the red carpet at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. The gathering crowd presses against the ropes that hold it back, jockeying to be the first to glimpse the resident celebrities. As the elevator doors open to the lobby, John Philip Sousa's King Cotton March begins to play. The fans inhale, hold their collective breath, and then squeal like giggling teenaged girls at a Justin Bieber concert, “There they are!” 

And the duck parade begins.

The Peabody Ducks (Photo Courtesy of Memphis County Visitors' Bureau)

 

Photo courtesy Freedigitalphotos.net

Led by their escort, the official Peabody Duckmaster, the web-footed, tail-shaking mallard ducks (one mail and four females), march along the red carpet in the Peabody’s Grand Lobby amidst the flash of camera lights and the sound of clapping from their adoring fans. One by one they take their place in the hotel’s ornate marble fountain where they paddle happily until the parade is reversed at five p.m., and the ducks return to their rooftop home. People come from all over the world to witness the procession, one of Memphis’s most famous attractions.

The tradition began in 1932, when the general manager of the hotel and one of his buddies returned from a hunting trip with five live decoys and a snoot full of whiskey. With the reasoning ability that only alcohol can bring, they decided it would be amusing to put their live ducks in the hotel fountain. What began as a prank soon became the hotel’s most popular attraction, and the live decoy ducks were subsequently replaced by five permanent residents. 

In 1940, a bellman named Edward Pembroke offered to help train the ducks. A former circus animal trainer, Pembroke soon taught the ducks to march. The duck parade became an overnight success, and he acquired the distinction of being the official Peabody Hotel Duckmaster, a position he held for over 50 years, until his retirement in 1991.

I suspect, when Pembroke quit his job as a circus animal trainer and began working as a bellman at the Peabody, he never planned to revisit that aspect of his life again. Many of us feel the same way.

Perhaps there are parts of our past you wish had never happened--hurts, sins, poor choices, abuse. Many of us who came to faith later in life bear the scars of life without him. Sexual promiscuity, alcohol or drug abuse, self-mutilation, abortion, and depression are all shadows from our former lives that threaten to eclipse our new lives in Christ. To protect ourselves, we lock them in the closet of our past, write Under the Blood on the door, and throw away the key.

But what if God places people in our lives who need to hear our story?

What if the stories of our past and the forgiveness and restoration Christ offers, unlocks the door to someone’s future? What if, like the Peabody ducks, someone is swimming aimlessly around in circles accomplishing nothing, when instead she could be part of something bigger and grander than she ever imagined?

What if Mr. Pembroke had said, “The past belongs in the past. I’ve left that behind”?

Instead he saw potential. He had vision, and he knew he could use aspects of his past to make his world better.

Beth Moore says, “God will often take our pain and turn it into a passion.” She’s a perfect example of this. A victim of childhood abuse, Beth has dedicated her life to helping women find restoration and hope a life by surrendering to Christ. God often turns our misery into ministry when we place it in his hands.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4).

Is there an aspect of your past you’d prefer to forget? Will you surrender it to God today to use as he sees fit? You can trust him, the one who promises to bring beauty from ashes.

If you enjoyed this post, you might like Hiding in the Coat Closet with Adam and Eve.

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