A Bird in the House

So Friday morning Jennifer and I were working away in the office and the kids were outside playing. 
Jen kept hearing a funny noise, but didn't think much of it.

Then she went to go downstairs, and this is what sent her screaming back into the office {and I do mean screaming... like there was a giant tarantula on the loose}.

There was a bird in the house.

In the window above my stairwell, to be exact.

A tiny, tiny, confused, little bird.

The problem was that we were getting ready to leave, and I didn't want to leave the house with a bird on the loose.

I got my extender duster (which I first had to figure out how to use, since we all know I don't do the cleaning}.

It just made him angry.

This is the bird's angry face, according to Jen.  She thought he was trying to bite her.

This is my reaction to the bird's angry face:

We quickly realized that we were getting nowhere with this stupid bird.

We were hungry.

So we left the front door {which is right below this window, for the record} propped open and went to Chick-fil-A.

Fortunately, no one stole anything while we were gone.

Unfortunately, the bird didn't leave.

I called Animal Control.

They told me to turn off all the lights and open the door.  Duh.  That might have helped had the bird not been perched in my bright, sunny, non-opening window!

At four o'clock {now a good five hours into Birdgate} I had to leave for the evening.

The bird had already made a huge mess of poop all over my window sills, and I couldn't just leave him in my house all night.

I called in reinforcements by the name of Kevin {my brother-in-law}.

He got right to business fashioning an even longer extender onto my extender duster, and he knocked that bird off the window sill and onto my landing. 

{Note: The following pictures were taken by Jennifer, in a state of terror.}

The bird was under the duster at this point.

Then we sent Beau in to trap the bird in a trash can.  

{That's right... we sacrificed the 7 year old.}

Finally... containment.

Kevin then slipped a piece of cardboard under the trash can and took the bird out to the front yard.

Free at last little bird... now don't come back!

Because it wasn't easy to clean this off my walls:

I was then able to leave in peace and head off to what I have been looking forward to for the last year, since my mom bought our tickets... Beth Moore.  Live.  In person.

The conference was phenomenal.  Beth was speaking on prayer... a simple topic, but with her usual profound twist.

We studied Luke 11:1-13, which includes this passage:  "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

 

Beth shared that sometimes we think God does not answer our prayers because we have asked for a snake, and he has given us a fish instead.  In other words, we ask for what we think is best, but he gives us the even better thing.

It made me think of that stupid little bird, and how he and I are actually a lot alike.

I kept yelling at that bird on Friday, saying Stupid bird!  The door is wide open... just fly out the door!

But all the bird could see was what was on the other side of that window.  So he banged and banged his head on that window, desperate for what was on the other side, thinking that was the only way out.  It was hard and scary and painful, but he just kept banging.

Then, just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, and that he would never get out, this big black thing knocked him off the window sill and suddenly he found himself alone in a dark, dark place... a little banged up, frustrated and hopeless.

But that is when he opened his eyes and found that he was out in the yard, with the sunlight on his face... exactly where he wanted to be all along.

I am that stupid bird.

God has thought of me Silly girl {I don't think he calls me stupid}!  The door is wide open... just fly out the door!

But I have been banging my head against the window, thinking my plan was best.

It makes me wonder how many times in my life I have missed out on the incredible blessings that the Lord had for me because I was too busy banging my head on that window, trying to make it work my way.

Today I am going to fly out the door.