Mary M.'s Comments

hello Mary Mier

Bondage, Spiritual: Free As A Bird?

Recently we put up a hummingbird feeder with four feeding stations. Almost immediately it became popular with the hummingbirds that live in our area. Two, three, or even four birds would feed at one time. We refilled the feeder at least once a day. Suddenly the usage decreased to almost nothing. The feeder needed filling only about once a week.
The reason for the decreased usage soon became apparent. A male bird had taken over the feeder as his property. He is now the only hummingbird who uses our feeder. He feeds and then sits in a nearby tree, rising to attack any bird that approaches his feeder. Guard duty occupies his every waking hour. He is an effective guard. The only time another bird gets to use the feeder is when the self-appointed owner is momentarily gone to chase away an intruder.

We soon realized that the hummingbird was teaching us a valuable lesson. By choosing to assume ownership of the feeder, he is forfeiting his freedom. He is no longer free to come and go as he wished. He is tied to the work of guarding his feeder. He is possessed by his possession. His freedom of action is as circumscribed as if he were in a cage. He is caged by a situation he has created. -- W. L. Barnes

Pounding In and Pulling Out Nails

When my daughter was confronted with the fact that she had hurt
another child with a mean comment, she cried and wanted to apologize.
That was a good thing, but I wanted her to know an apology can't
always make things better.
I told her the parable of Will, a nine-year-old whose father
abandoned his mom two years earlier. Will was angry, and he often
would lash out at others with hurtful words. He once told his mom, "I
see why Dad left you!"
Unable to cope with his outbursts, she sent Will to spend the summer
with his grandparents.
His grandfather's strategy to help Will learn self control every time
he said a mean thing was to make him go into the garage and pound a
two-inch-long nail into a 4x4 board. He couldn't return until the
nail was all the way in.
For a small boy, this was a major task. After about ten trips to the
garage, Will began to be more cautious about his words. Eventually,
he even apologized for all the bad things he'd said.
That's when his grandmother came in. She made him bring in the board
filled with nails and told him to pull them all out. This was even
harder than pounding them in. After a huge struggle, he did it.
His grandmother hugged him and said, "I appreciate your apology and,
of course, I forgive you because I love you. But I want you to know
an apology is like pulling out one of those nails. Look at the board.
The holes are still there. The board will never be the same. I know
your dad put a hole in you, but please don't put holes in other
people. You`re better than that."

Four Seasons of a Tree

Don't judge a life by one difficult season.

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn to not judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no - it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed, he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are - and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life - can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall. Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

Mary, welcome to Guardians Prayer Warrior! Many blessings on your path and walk with Christ! You will find many others who would love to share that path with you here!