Look Up!

Imagine my surprise the other day, when I glanced out at my bird feeder, to see this little golden finch trapped INSIDE of the feeder. How he got in there, I have no idea. If you look toward the bottom of the feeder, you can see the tiny opening where the food comes out. He somehow squeezed in, but could not squeeze back out. This was a job, for Super Chatty! (that's me).

Have I mentioned, however, that I am not a fan of birds specifically, nor wild life in general? Okay, anything that can be unpredictable. Or poop on you. (I realize I just described small children too, but in general I am not afraid of them.) I mean this was a wild animal! Have you ever seen, "What Happens When Animals Attack?" I was possibly only moments away from a bird mauling, I just knew it!

Still I knew I had to save the bird. So I got a long stick, and while the bird was fluttering madly inside it's Plexiglas cage, I knocked the red roof off of the bird feeder.


What happened next was surprising. The bird did not fly out of the feeder! No, it just kept fluttering madly and banging against the Plexiglas. If it would have just looked up, it would have seen it's pathway to freedom, but instead kept looking at and banging the Plexiglas.

Now I had to take desperate measures. I stuck the stick through the little opening at the bottom. The Plexiglas would not move. So I tried the next pane, behind the bird, and as I pushed the pane rose so the bird could escape. But the bird just kept fixed on the pane in front of it, fluttering away. Finally, with my arm wrapped around the house, holding the pane up with my long stick, I stood in front of the pane the bird was banging on. Startled, he flew backwards, and out of the bird feeder. Mission Accomplished!

I couldn't help but think, "What a stupid bird!" But then I thought about myself. How many times do I get myself into a jam? And then realizing my problem, I keep banging away trying to solve it myself. If I would just look up, look to God, he would provide me direction, and the way to go. But no, I keep banging away.

Sometimes God has to block my path, to make me realize I just need to turn around to find my freedom...in Him.

Don't be like me (or that stupid bird!) Look up, to God, and he will guide you in the right direction.

Proverbs 4:26 -- Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. - Alexander Graham Bell

All Out of Love

I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you
I know you were right believing for so long
I'm all out of love, what am I without you
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong
All Out of Love, Air Supply, 1980

My husband and I recently watched the movie, "Fireproof." (Yes, I know we're about 2 years behind the rest of you). In the story line of the movie, Caleb (the male lead) discovers that he can't truly love his wife, without Jesus in his life. His father tells him, "You can't love her, because you can't give her what you don't have." His father goes on to say, "Jesus changed my life, and that's when I truly began to love...."

Sometimes it's hard to love people. And the time when I find people the most unlovable is usually when I'm so grumpy that I am pretty unlovable myself! My "love tank" gets empty. I find that I'm all out of love. And when that happens I know why. It's because I'm not filling myself with Jesus.

Without Jesus I can't love. "I'm so lost without you." At some point we're all going to have to account for our lives to Jesus. What we've done or haven't done, and how we've shown love. When your time comes, don't be the one saying, "I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong." Commit your life and your love to Jesus. And then you won't be all out of love.