One of the blessings of living in the country is the vast amount of wildlife in our area. Bobcat? I’ve seen them. Coyote? Yep…just the other day. Fox? Check. Bear? You betcha (but I’ve only seen a bear one time here). Deer? Constantly…except during hunting season. Groundhogs, squirrels, chipmunks, field mice, a plethora of bugs, etc., etc., etc.
We also have birds.
Lots of birds.
Black birds. Blue birds. Red birds. Yellow birds. Brown birds. White birds. Birds that whistle. Birds that sing. Birds that squawk. Birds that do what birds do in a variety of places. Birds, birds, birds, and more birds.
Don’t get me wrong, the birds are a blessing too. I’m glad they are around. I like seeing them and hearing them (most of the time…some flocks of blackbirds can be rather loud and annoying). I just don’t go through the hassle of having feeders or fountains or houses for them. I figure the natural habitat does its job of providing for the birds, and I get the benefit of seeing them. Sure, I could encourage even more to come with feeders and what not, but…let’s be honest. I have other things to do to keep me busy right now. I’m glad they are around. I hope they don’t leave, but for the foreseeable future, I’m not going to be doing much to encourage any more to come.
Birds. They are around, and I’m glad for it…mostly.
On occasion a bird shows up that I would rather not have here. One that came from a bad egg I guess. A bird will come around and it will start trouble. Puff out its chest like it owns the place. Get all bossy and demanding. Do its business where it has no business doing business…if you know what I mean…and not just a little bit. Repeatedly. Incessantly. Over and over and over and over right on the side of our car. Right underneath the side view mirror. Said unwelcome bird will make quite the mess! Not something I like to see!
Here’s what happens as I understand it (I’ve looked this up, so don’t think that I’m entirely off my rocker…I’ve just added a bit!):
Mr. Bird will be flying around, presumably minding his own business.
As he passes by the car, he gets tired.
He decides to see if the car is a good place to perch for a wee bit of rest.
As he perches, Mr. Bird sees something. Something offensive. Something that needs dealt with immediately.
What is it?
Another, identical bird. Mr. Byrd. He even has a weird spelling of his name. How offensive!
Mr. Byrd has also been flying nearby.
He has also been examining the car.
He has has also gotten tired and needed a place to perch for a wee bit of rest.
Mr. Byrd has also seen Mr. Bird who he now believes is impeding upon HIS territory.
Two birds. One perch. Only one can remain.
What are these two birds to do?
Fight to see who is boss. Fight to see who gets the area. Fight to see who gets the nappy time on my car and who has to leave.
Squawking ensues. Pecking ensues. The fight of a century takes place with words that are not fit to translate from bird into English. It gets heated. It gets passionate. It gets intense. It’s an amazing battle of wits and wings, the likes of which are rarely seen in these parts.
The problem?
THERE’S ONLY ONE BIRD!!!
Mr. Bird has seen a reflection. Mr. Byrd does not exist.
Mr. Bird has been deceived and has subsequently spent an immeasurable amount of time fighting his own reflection in the mirror whilst dropping his business on the side of my car.
For obvious reasons, Mr. Bird and his reflection-fighting self is not welcome in these parts.
Granted, it’s not his fault. The bird doesn’t know that he’s really just pecking at a mirror, that it’s not another bird there, that he’s being deceived, that he’s ruining my car for no good reason. What looks like Mr. Byrd challenging male dominance is really just a reflection. It’s just Mr. Bird seeing himself in a mirror that’s used as a tool for me to keep from smashing into other cars.
The bird has been deceived. It is reacting to something that’s not there…at least not there in the way he thinks.
I wonder…how often do I do the same?
How often do I find myself puffing up my chest and fighting against an imaginary foe? How often am I just fighting the thoughts in my head when the other party doesn’t exist or even know I have an issue?
How often have I been deceived?
It’s probably a lot. I may never know how often it has occurred. That’s part of the problem with deception. The bird left, never truly knowing it was fighting a reflection. It got tired or discouraged or defeated, but it never fully understood the mirror.
I likely do the same. I get deceived into thinking someone has wronged me, has offended me, has stepped into my territory and I must do something about it. Typically, this "something about it" just occurs within my head. I imagine conversations and confrontations about how I have been wronged. But really, I’m just fighting myself over an issue that may not have been as I had perceived it. I might leave the situation without ever knowing of the deception.
And just so we don’t leave it at fighting and issues of dominance in bird-brained people, what about deception in other areas? After all, deception happens on other levels too. Ever seen or heard a bird smack into a window?
Talk about deception!
Mr. and Mrs. Bird can be flying along, minding their own business when they see a lovely field with a beautiful tree to build a home. It has a nice, vacant branch, views of the countryside, a perfect place to raise a family and at an affordable price! “Let’s check it out!” they exclaim. They head towards the tree & WHAM!!!! Stopped suddenly, mid-flight.
The birds have been deceived. The tree with the vacancy? A reflection in a window pane. Most of the time, they will eventually get up and fly away, but do they really know what happened? Do they ever recognize the deceit (even though it is unintentional in these cases)? Do they ever fully understand what occurred? Likewise, do we?
I imagine that I’ve smacked into an occasional “window pane”, have gotten up and moved on, never really knowing what happened. I “saw” some desirable goal…more money, more control, more safety, more power, more friends, more security, more fame, a nicer TV, a bigger car, a newer this, a better that, and I’ve flown after it. Then, smack! Things don’t work out. The plans to get the $$$ didn’t come through. The desire for the promotion went unanswered. The invitations to the party all came back “no” if they came back at all. The thing that I had been chasing didn’t work out, I was stopped mid-flight, but did I really know that what I had been chasing was just an illusion? Did I really learn from that abrupt disruption? Had I known I had been deceived, or did I continue in the same direction, just on a slightly different path?
Deception comes in many forms, at many times, on many levels.
Sometimes, I’ve been deceived into thinking that there was a need for a conflict, but there had never been such need. There have also been plenty of times in my life when I have sought after things that could never satisfy, when I’ve chased after dreams that would never fulfill, that I have flown after the reflection of the field full of flowers in the window pane. I have been deceived. Unfortunately, I can leave both situations without fully realizing the deception. I’ve fought imaginary foes or chased after an illusion that looks like happiness and success without ever realizing that they had been imaginary or illusions all along. I imagine that we’ve all done the same.
So, where does this leave us? Hopeless? Like a bird, destined to smack into a window unaware or pick fights with ourselves in a mirror?
Thankfully, no. We are not hopeless, but we do need to recognize a few things.
First, let’s recognize where truth originates. God is truth. There is no falseness, no deception found within God. The Bible conveys this in a number of ways.
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” ~ Jesus (John 14:6)
“God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)
Second, let’s recognize where deception originates. The devil. Jesus said this of him:
When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)
Third, let’s recognize that we do not need to face deception on our own. God has given us His Holy Spirit. This is how Jesus described the Holy Spirit and one of the Spirit’s roles in the Gospel of John:
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” (John 16:13)
Fourth, let’s recognize what we have been given in Christ:
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
Friends, we do not need to be “bird-brains”, destined to be deceived time and time again. In fact, deception is “for the birds.” (Just as an aside, that phrase is said to have come from the time when children asked about the horse droppings left behind the horse-drawn wagons. “They’re for the birds” was the response. It became a phrase to mean “worthless.”) Instead, we need the Way, the Truth, The Life. We need God. As we fly about our daily routine, let’s spend time with God, seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and trusting that we can know Jesus, the truth, and that the truth will set us free, even free from deception.
~ Pastor Chris
