Keeping Warm in the Cold
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” [Matthew 24:12]
The emperor penguin begins its life in the intense cold of an Antarctic winter. In March or April, the majestic penguins travel from the feeding grounds on the sea to the Antarctic ice pack. The journey can be as long as 60 to 100 miles, and they make their way by walking and sometimes sliding on their bellies. Arriving at a place that is as desolate as any on Earth, they stop and the female lays one egg. Her energy depleted, she delicately transfers the egg onto the male’s feet. He quickly covers it with a fold of his fat, feathery fur to keep it warm. The female then returns to the sea to feed for the next two months.
For the next 64 days, during the severe South Pole winter, the males must fast as they incubate their eggs. The ice is so cold that if an egg is dropped, the chick will quickly die. In addition, winds can reach up to 120 miles per hour. In order to survive, the male penguins huddle in clusters of about 100 and take turns in the center. Soon after the babies hatch, the females return. During their absence, the males may have lost between 20 and 40 pounds.
While the female penguins feed the chicks by regurgitating food they’ve stored, the males return to the ocean to feed. For the next month and a half, the parent penguins will alternate making the long trek to the sea and caring for the chick. When the chicks are old enough, they will form a tight huddle of their own, while both parents forage for food and return frequently to feed their chick. By summer, the chicks are old enough to leave the breeding grounds and travel to the sea themselves.
Emperor penguins demonstrate some of the most patient devotion and warm love for their young of any creatures, and they do this in the coldest conditions on Earth, where temperatures may drop as low as 85 degrees below zero! The Bible says that in the last days “lawlessness will abound” and “the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). But, as the emperor penguins demonstrate, it’s possible to keep your love warm in a cold world! And for those who do, the rewards are outstanding: “He who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:12).
