A Piece of Peace

Yesterday while sitting an intersection, with the weight of the world on my shoulders and traffic buzzing by in front of me, out of the corner of my eye I saw a tiny little bird flutter right by my window.  The light I was sitting at tends to hold for a while so I had a moment to let my eyes follow her.  She landed in a triangle shaped median right in the center of the intersection and it appeared that she could have had a lot on her mind as well.  I was frozen in the moment and today I know why.

She was hard at work picking up twig after twig in her little beak.  She would pick one up and then put it back down, and repeat.  She finally settled on one and held it in her beak while she tested out another one and another one.  I watched her, in awe of how she wasn't focused on the traffic whirling by her.  Cars were buzzing by with to do lists, agendas, appointments, full of life and their own personal gain, yet she never stopped what she was doing.  She had a goal in mind and that goal was to find remnants of fallen twigs and leaves and such that she could bind together to make shelter.  Shelter that would hold up in the rain and storms of the spring season.  Shelter that would nest her fragile eggs after giving birth but with a foundation firm enough that her hatchlings could learn to stand on their own two feet and take wing and learn to fly.  She was so tiny, but so determined.

She would find a twig that had broken and fallen into a place where it didn't belong but was still strong enough to hold her nest together.  She would find a leaf that seemed to have lost life according to the world, but would make a perfect fit to patch a small hole in her nest.  She would gather all of the brokenness and misfits and bind them together in an effort to find refuge.

  

And are we not guilty of this?

As we walk through this crazy messed up world, we are broken by someone, maybe by mistake or maybe on purpose and we add that brokenness to our "nest" and we find refuge in it. We are often rejected by someone, a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, an employer, or a friend and we add that bit of rejection to our "nest" and we find refuge in it.  The world looks at us and says we aren't "good enough", "big enough", "smart enough" or "dedicated enough" to make a difference, and we add that to our place of refuge.  Or the World whizzes by with their own busyness of life and never stop to take a second glance at us to see how we're doing.  We shove that into our nests too, and find refuge in it.  We pick up all of the brokenness and shattered pieces we encounter and we build a place of rest for our souls and then we wonder why we can't find happiness.  Our souls are resting in abandonment issues, addictions, fear of rejection, and pity parties. 


We don't sift through those broken pieces in order to find the ones that will hold up.  We don't sort thru and get rid of the bad, we cling to the bad for dear life.  Because heaven forbid we feel worthy of a nest strong enough to endure life's storms.  Heaven forbid we find a piece of peace, and hold onto that one and discard the rest.

The Word of God has this to say:

Luke 6:47 "Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: 48he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49"But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great."

I don't know about you but I'm tired of drowning.  I'm tired of being swept away by the current and getting in over my head.  I want to be that tiny bird that never takes her eyes off the goal.  I want to find refuge in a peaceful place that is solid and strong.  I want to be able to stand in the middle of a crossroads and instead of focusing on my circumstances and how hard the task is at hand, I want to keep my eyes on a Savior that gives me purpose and has greater plans for my life that I could ever imagine.

Psalm 84:2My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. 3The bird also has found a house, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, My King and my God. 4How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You. Selah.…

Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.