Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.” Galatians 6:7
Some people…some things are just slow learners. A couple of weeks ago, my wife Judy was “grand-dog” sitting for our daughter Jennifer and tribe. It was a great opportunity to sit back and relax and have some space. She read, she walked, and she just did Judy stuff. I was back home going to work so it is possible there was just a little jealousy on my part. It just sounded like she was just having more fun than I was.
Where the tribe lives there is plenty of country and plenty of wildlife. Deer are frequent visitors to the backyard with an occasional skunk, raccoon, and possum. Oh and every once in a while, Bigfoot stops by for short visit. There was one rather intriguing friend who showed up every day and did the craziest thing. You see, there was this beautiful bluebird that would spend a large portion of the morning and a chunk of the evening sitting the patio. There was food there, water was also available, so it was a good gig. But that wasn’t the crazy thing…this was.
This bluebird would fly into the glass of the bedroom window by the feeder. It wasn’t a mistake, it wasn’t bad navigation…it was intentional. He would take off, fly straight into the window, bounce off and then return to his perch. He would then do it over and over again. Fortunately, and apparently, he didn’t have time to build up a lot of speed so there was no damage to the window and little to him…though he certainly had to have a splitting headache. And the truth is if you were to go to their house this morning that little bird would be doing the same thing today.
This obviously caused Judy and I to try and figure this all out and I think we finally did. You see, the window has a film on it that can make the window somewhat like a mirror. The best we can tell, in the reflection caused by the window, he saw what he thought was another male bluebird and that was just not going to cut it. So, he decided to do something about it and flew over to “take care of business.” How about that?
There are two lessons in this little story and if we learn them, we should all be grateful to the little bluebird. First, don’t think that everyone or, in his case, everything is your enemy. It’s too bad that our friend didn’t think to have the bird in the mirror over for lunch. He would have quickly learned that what he thought was an enemy…was himself. It has been said, and it certainly is true, that sometimes we are our own worst enemies. And, hey, when the enemy is a reality, go ahead and extend just a little grace. After all, you catch more flies with sugar than salt.
The second lesson is more personal and personally profitable. Our friend never seemed to figure out that the bird in the window wasn’t real. Over and over again, he banged into the window appearing not too smart and getting a whale of a headache in return. You see, it just doesn’t make sense to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Paul, one of the heavy weights who wrote a lot of the New Testament said, “God won’t be mocked. Whatever a person sows, he will also reap.” Paul was right. If you want a different result…you must do something different. God advice…good advice.
So, this week as you journey, if you find yourself tempted to fly into a window or a wall, hit the pause button. Ask yourself if the collision is going to be worth it. Ask yourself if this headache is worth a bigger one! Oh, and just in case you find yourself doing something over and over again with the exact same result…maybe, just maybe, you should try sometime different. After all, if you want something besides corn, you gotta sow some different seed. And if all else fails, well, you can always ask the Dearest Daddy of heaven for some advice. I think you will find His way is always best. You know, “He’s always got this.” Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 