Things I learned from a pigeon

So first, a little bit of back story. As I began this blog, I was originally instructed to read the scriptures and then write about what I learned.  It caused me to read scriptures in a totally different way, and I learned and grew much. I learned to find those beautiful easter eggs in the scriptures, then as I found them, the writing flowed.

So today I depart from that formula to write about what I see. I am building a home. By all measures, it's my dream home. It's my wife's dream home, and when we move in, it would be my dream home even if it was a tin shack - I'd have the right woman to share it with.

So the entire east side of the home is pretty much all glass. There's a view there - perhaps one of the most spectacular views on the planet. There is all manner of wildlife, but especially birds - birds I've never seen before in my life, but they are there in great abundance on the back side - the east side - of this wood frame wonder.

I was there the other day running some wire, and I heard chirping and repeated failed attempts to get through the upstairs sliding glass door. It was a pigeon, exhausted, but trying and failing over and over to fly through the glass. Each time, a squalk of desperation, exhausted wings, and the same result.  Failure. Death was coming fast for this trapped creature.

But just a few feet to the side, there are four windows that are not installed yet. This pigeon simply had to wander over there. A few hops perhaps, and then the living would have gone back to being easy. Bugs, seeds, and all of the things that make a pigeon's life beautiful are right there. But our pigeon would die there if I didn't save it. Why? because it thought it knew what to do, would not try anything else, and could not ask others to assist.

I climbed the ladder to get to the second floor and looked at the pigeon. Now, pigeons are not my wife's favorite bird - they're loud in the morning and we have many on our roof where we live now. Right at the bottom on the totem pole of bird awesomeness.

But I looked at this one. Small, beautiful, elegant, and desperately in need. It was too tired to be afraid of me. It just sat there while I walked into the room, toward the bird and the door. I gently opened the glass door, and walked away. It took a minute, but then it happened, and I saw a couple of pigeons flying around together. Reunited in all of their pigeon happiness, and the day was beautiful for them again.

And I wondered, how often are we like this pigeon? Our life is in the swamp - we've trapped ourselves. It's not working, and we're desperate. Still, we will not turn to anyone other than ourselves. Whether it's pride that stops us, or a lack of belief or knowledge of the gifts of God, or simply stubbornness. Maybe it's an insistence that we've got ourselves into this swamp and and we'll get ourselves out of it - or die trying. And the last thing we want to do is admit that we don't have as many of the answers as we thought we did.

The Lord sometimes will come open the door for us, but I suspect that often he waits for us to request that the door be opened. Or maybe he'll go into our room and herd us (guide us) toward a window, hoping that we'll give up our old belief set and fly through a window instead. I suspect that if He just opens the door for us to make our lives easier, we learn nothing. And the next time we trap ourselves? We either become dependent and fail to grow, or are found once again in a life or death swamp - no further ahead than we were before.

It's not always about trying harder, or trying again. And this pains me to say, but it's not always about not being afraid to fail. Sometimes we just have to try something new - something we've never tried before. And sometimes our little bird brain just can't get us there. We have to rely on the Lord. May we surrender our will and do so always.