Focusing on what frustrates us, makes us miss out on a lot of beauty.
Yesterday, some movement in my garage, caught my eye. She was back. I guess it was a she. Every year around this time, I have an ongoing battle with a bird who insists on trying to build a nest in my garage. Surely after all of this time, it isn’t the same bird, but it’s the same struggle.
I will shoo her out and she comes back. She will get a pile of leaves and sticks going and I remove them. It’s not like my yard isn’t covered with trees where she could easily build a nest. Every year, I feel like she targets me, which of course, isn’t the case.
Well, yesterday as soon as I saw what she was up to, I closed the garage. My kitchen got awfully dark all of a sudden because it was a beautiful day and I had blocked the sunlight from coming in, but I was willing to make the sacrifice.
Some time went by and I decided to sweep out my garage. When I clicked to open the garage door, I was stunned by both the brilliant light that came pouring in and the symphony of birdsong. I mean, it was like a concert out there. I smiled at their songs as well at how beautiful and warm the light was.
The garage had been dark and chilly with the door closed. Sure, there was no nuisance bird, but I was missing out on a lot of the beauty that I so enjoy this time of year.
I thought about that light and music for the rest of the day. I thought about how we can allow anything that is a nuisance to us, deprive us of something special.
I thought about how especially true that is with churches. Anyone who has spent a lot of time in a church will tell you that churches are far from perfect. They are made up of people and people are broken. There will be conflict from time to time.
Christians have a common enemy who thrives on conflict.
And quite often, there will be that one person, who drives us insane, so much so, that we allow ourselves to become focused on the negatives of that person. We can allow that person to become our nuisance bird, so to speak, and avoid all situations where he or she is involved. We become willing to shut out any contact with that person.
In so doing, we miss out on so much of the community that is the heart of the church. We miss the aggravation, but we sacrifice the light and the music.
My little nuisance bird reminded me that I should spend some time in prayer about those who frustrate me and then give it to God. In the end, keeping the door closed, makes me give up too much and in a world that is often dark, I don’t want to miss a minute of the light or the music.
Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂