[Faith-talk] The parable of the birds

[WESLEY BURDEN]

Parable of the Birds

Once upon a time, there was a man who looked upon Christmas as a lot of
humbug. He wasn't a Scrooge. He was a very kind and decent person, generous
to his family, upright in all his dealings with other men. But he didn't
believe all that stuff about an incarnation which churches proclaim at
Christmas.
And he was too honest to pretend that he did. "I am truly sorry to distress
you," he told his wife, who was a faithful churchgoer, "but I simply cannot
understand this claim that God became man. It doesn't make any sense to me."

On Christmas Eve, his wife and children went to church for the midnight
service. He declined to accompany them. "I'd feel like a hypocrite," he
explained.
"I'd much rather stay at home. But I'll wait up for you."

Shortly after his family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. 
He went to his family room window and watched the flurries getting heavier
and heavier.


"If we must have a Christmas," he reflected, "it's nice to have a white
one."

He went back to his chair by the fireside and began to read his 
newspaper. A few minutes later, he was startled by a thudding sound. 
It was quickly followed
by another, then another. He thought that someone must be throwing 
snow balls at his living room window.

When he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of 
birds huddled miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the 
storm, and in a desperate
search for shelter had tried to fly through his window.

I can't let those poor creatures lie there and freeze, he thought. 
But how can I help them?

Then he remembered the barn where the children's pony was stabled. It 
would provide a warm shelter. He quickly put on his coat and galoshes 
and tramped
through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and 
turned on the light. But the birds didn't come in.

Food will bring them in, he thought. So he hurried back to the house 
for bread crumbs, which he sprinkled on the snow to make a trail into 
the barn.

To his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to 
flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried shooing them into the 
barn by walking around
and waving his arms. They scattered in every direction - except into 
the warm, lighted barn.

"They think I'm a strange and terrifying creature," he said to 
himself, "and I can't seem to think of any way to let them know they 
can trust me. If only
I could be a bird myself for a few minutes, perhaps I could lead them 
to safety. If I could just talk bird talk - speak bird language - 
they would listen
to me, because they would understand me. Maybe if I put on my 
daughter's 'Big-Bird' costume, I would look like a bird and they 
would trust me because I
would look like them."

"If I could just become a bird for a few minutes...
      if I could just walk like a bird...
      if I could just talk like a bird...
      if I could just look like a bird...
           they would trust me and I could save them...
           they would trust me and I could save them...
           they would trust me and I could save them..."

Just at that moment, the church bells began to ring. He stood 
silently for a while, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings 
of Christmas. Then
he sank to his knees in the snow.

"Now I understand," he whispered. "Now I know why you had to come to 
earth. Now I know why you became one of us. Thank you, Jesus, for 
coming to earth
to save sinners like me."

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being 
in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to 
be grasped, but
made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made 
in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled 
himself and
became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God 
exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above 
every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and 
under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
to the glory of
God the Father. (Philip. 2:5-11)


Stu
<mailto:K5stu at sbcglobal.net>K5stu at sbcglobal.net
Reading your Bible today will help prepare you for A Brighter Tomorrow!
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