I AM that bird

The story of the bird I posted recently has managed to lodge it’s place in my mind ever since. As tragic as it was for the bird, the driver of the car, and me, I need there to be something good coming from it. What can I learn? What can I do to make up for it? That’s the main reason I’ve decided to save a bird, to balance the scales in a way.

Well, on a day trip to Memphis I had another thought about this bird and it almost stopped me in my tracks. This little bird was just trying to survive, avoid hardship, elude predators, to make a life for itself… this bird is ME.

I float around Nashville enjoying the beauty of all that’s here: friends, outdoors, music, all the good things I experience. I try to avoid hardship whenever possible, elude predators (like the inclination to have road rage, for instance), to be selfish, to lust… but a lot of times I am naive like this little bird. I land in the middle of life’s road just to be run over by sin.

I blame the evil forces at work in this world. They approach so slowly sometimes I don’t even see them coming. Then boom, they flatten me when I try to escape.

I’M THE BIRD.

While I was wrestling with these thoughts, halfway from Nashville to Memphis, I couldn’t help but become overwhelmed. Then this song popped up on Spotify…

…and I cried. God is so loving that, as a shepherd, He will leave the ninety-nine sheep to rescue the one who’s strayed away. I’m so grateful for this love. And as this song builds towards the ending, it becomes a celebration. I’m very much hoping and believing this is how life is supposed to go, too. No matter the struggle, it can turn into a celebration. Even as a little, often helpless bird, I can soar on wings like an eagle because I know God is FOR me. If only I can have hope in Him.

This hope is for all of us, too.

-Out of the Wilderness