Be Like This Bird

I once watched a most incredible thing. I watched a small bird trying to gather string, which I presumed would have gone into the building of a nest. It is amazing that this little creature acting on instinct alone would gather this kind of material for building. You see, a bird cannot reason, “A piece of string would be nice to use for building my nest, so I’ll take it.” God has given this little bird the natural instinct to function.
You probably are thinking, “What’s so incredible about watching a bird do what it naturally does?” I watched as the bird made several attempts to gather the string. She would pick up one end of the string in her beak and fly upward, but the string would fall, and she would try again. This activity went on for several minutes. What made this so incredible to me was that the other end of the string was attached to a boat sitting on a boat trailer.

I thought of the bird’s PERSISTENCE in her efforts. No matter how many times she failed, the bird kept on trying. How often do you and I show this kind of persistence in our endeavors? Even though the odds of getting that particular piece of string were greatly against the bird, I found myself hoping that she would succeed.

I thought of the bird’s FOCUS on the string. She was oblivious to the fact that the string was attached to an immovable object. All she saw was the string, and she went after it. How often do we keep a singular focus on a particular goal? Too often we allow our focus to scatter to several objectives, and then we wonder why we don’t succeed in achieving any of them.

I thought the bird had great CONFIDENCE. Her intention was to get that string. The bird was not deterred by the fact that a large boat was in her way. Watching the scene unfold as time and again the bird would try to fly away with that string, I almost expected to see the boat lift off the ground.

We need to be PERSISTENT, FOCUSED, and CONFIDENT in our efforts as we serve the Lord. I am sure we will find more success in our endeavors