Hello,
This past week I have been having a love/hate relationship
with a pair of swallows.
I actually like having swallows around because they snap up
the bugs that are flying around in the air, especially mosquitoes. As a matter of fact, my wife has constructed
several bird houses that stand at some distance from our house to encourage
their habitation. Several pairs of
swallows have done just what we have hoped they would do, nesting on those bird
houses. So, I like having swallows
around.
But I do not want them nesting on my house! They are messy nesters. They drop mud when they are building
their nests, and they drop something else when they nest in their nests. I have given them a place to nest, but
there is a pair of swallows that has decided that they don’t want to nest in
the birdhouses that I have given them.
They have chosen to nest on my house!
I noticed them sweeping in and out beneath our deck which
covers a patio constructed next to sliding doors out of our basement. After many flights I decided that I
would take a look-see, and sure enough, they had begun to build a nest atop a
vent. I pulled out a hose and
water blasted the nest from the side of my house figuring they would get the
message that their nest was not wanted there. Not so. As I was rolling up the hose I saw them
resume their sorties under my deck carrying nesting material in their
beaks. So, I unrolled my hose and
blasted their work again. Three
times I did that, and three times they continued their construction.
So, I decided to discourage them in a different way. I put a wire brush atop the vent, which
worked for a while. But they were
relentless in their housing choice, and started to build their nest on the
handle of the brush.
My next idea was to block off the area above the vent with
blocks of wood…..and that worked for a while. But they were unmoved in their choice, and they started
building a nest by plastering mud next to my blocks of wood.
Even as I write this Bungee Cord in my basement family room,
they are outside my sliding glass door, swooping in and swooping out. I have resorted to placing a hoe under
my deck which I have had to use a couple of times to scrape off their nest
construction.
I WILL win this battle. My choice not to have them nest on my house will overrule
their choice to build it there….after all, I am bigger, and it is my house!.
Swallows are not the only thing with which I have a
love/hate relationship. I also
have one with God. That may sound
like a strange thing for a pastor to say, but it is the truth. I love having God in my life because
God snaps up all my failures, my failings, and my sins so that I can live my
life in peace. But there is part
of me that is fine with having God around my life, living in a distant built
birdhouse, but I don’t want him nesting on my heart. God has a way of messing up my desire for vengeance, my
blindness to my faults, my need to be right, my preoccupation with the faults
of others. I have, on more than
one occasion, tried to blast him out of my life….But God does not give up. I have, on more than one occasion,
bristled against God and built blockades to keep him out of my life….but God
does not give up. I have even
tried to scrape God out of my life….but God does not give up.
God has chosen to nest in my life…and with swallow
determination, God will not give up on his choice. God keeps on swooping into my life, and unlike the swallows
who continue to swoop onto my house, God….not me….will win….after all…. God is
bigger than me! And in truth, that
swallow-like determination of God is ultimately the foundation of my faith.
I may have a love/hate relationship with God, but God has
shown me that he has a love…and love only relationship with me. Likewise with you. Thank God!
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
No comments:
Post a Comment