|
Think On These Things Newsletter>
The Little Visitor
January 15, 2008
We have a small visitor at our house. She spends most of
the day outside of our sons’ rooms going in rotation to all
three windows. My wife, Cyndy, and I thought at first it
was a Finch, but Cyndy decided it was a female robin (?). I
have large hands and could probably hold the bird in a
loose fist with no part of the bird showing outside of my
hand. I do not know much about birds, but I do know that
this particular bird has the common sense of a tree trunk.
She began to visit in the early afternoon after lunchtime.
Which is one of my prime reflecting and writing times so
the intrusion was quite unwelcome, at least at first. I
mistakenly took the sound to be our dog, Misty, scratching
at the window from the inside trying to get out at a
squirrel. But the tapping was more melodic and deliberate
and did not result in the harder thump that our
medium-sized dog would make.
It sounded as if you took a key and tapped the window,
ostensibly trying to break it, but not quite hard enough to
do any real damage. Less than three minutes later, another
tap. Sometimes it would stop for as long as five minutes,
leading me to believe it had stopped. But sure enough, as
soon as I started working again – another tap. I realized
that Misty was laying on the floor by my desk so she could
not be making the sound. Then I heard a deeper heavier
noise follow the tap, as if someone had thrown a ball at
the window.
I went down the hall quietly and stood in the doorway of
the first boy’s room. The bird was standing in the middle
of the window sill. She would look at the window, look
around, then back at the window. Then suddenly she would
tap the window hard with her beak – as if she had forgotten
it was there, or just to be sure she had not been wrong the
first five times. It was also entirely possible that she
had tapped her beak so hard she had rattled her brains.
Then, in between taps, so suddenly it made me jump, she
backed up a step and flung her little four inch, 20 ounce
body against the window as hard as she could. Only
appearing to be dazed for a few seconds, she flew around in
a small circle and landed back on the window. She looked at
the window for a few minutes, looked around a bit, and the
whole cycle began again. I stood transfixed thinking surely
she would not do it again. But sure enough, after a series
of taps, she backed up and body-slammed the window.
I leaned against the doorframe and watched for a while.
Either the bird was so daft that neither thought nor pain
registered in her small brain or she was so stubbornly
persistent that constant failure was not enough for her to
give up her task, whatever it was. Regardless, her task was
a painful and fruitless one. Stubborn persistence can be
detrimental.
While I thought the bird’s actions were ridiculously naive
and mistaken, it occurred to me that we are like that bird
in our stubborn persistence in not listening to what the
Lord is telling us. We study the Bible, we attend church,
yet we still adjust the biblical teachings to our own
personal situations. We find excuses not to study the Bible
more, not to attend church regularly, not to work harder to
meet our tithe to the church, and not to volunteer when our
youth are involved in the youth program at church, and on
and on.
I cannot help but feel that we have a chance to fly free,
and explore all the exciting experiences that the Lord’s
world has to offer. Yet we insist on consistently tapping
on the glass wall on the other side of which are those
things that we think we want or should have, but would
never give us the fulfillment we think they would bring.
After tapping, and being unsuccessful, we refuse to accept
the reality that is right before us. In our stubborn
persistence we body-slam against the glass, throwing our
entire body into the refusal to accept what is before us.
But that is not enough. We turn right around and start the
whole process over again. When are we going to learn to
follow Christ’s example and fly freely though God’s
wonderful creation instead of tapping our beaks against the
window to the artificial part of the world we do not need.
Peace be with you.
|
|
|
