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Of House Sparrows and Pigeons


                Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead,
fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.  (Proverbs 4:23-27)

            One of the reasons I have planted the trees, bushes, and plants that I have this past two months is to attract birds and butterflies, so I can take pictures. I knew from having a bird feeder in the birch tree that most of what I would get at the feeder was House Sparrows. I should probably try to appreciate them more, but there are so many and they’re just not photographically exciting to me. 
           I didn’t expect my currently second most frequent visitor. I’ve thought for some time that someone must have a pigeon rookery down the road. This morning, a flock of them waited on the power lines. It might not be so bad if they’d actually eat all the seeds that the sparrows leave on the ground, but there are baby sunflowers all around the feeder. 
            Of course, there is a spiritual application of this. We set things up in our lives with the best of intents. We’re going to be this, or do that, with the result of some good thing, and then all the wrong birds show up. You’re going love this man forever, or your kids are going to be the delight of your life, and then one day you find yourself wondering if they’ve been replaced by aliens or androids or something. 
            The Bible tells us to guard our hearts and do everything in our power to keep our focus on doing what God has called us to do, because it’s so easy to be discouraged by results that aren’t as we thought they’d be.

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