Due to my inordinate love of cardinals, we always keep our bird feeder filled with the best brand of bird food we can find--and a type that supposedly attracts cardinals. Don't get me wrong--we appreciate and enjoy all the birds, but still, it's really all about those cardinals.
There's a little fly in the ointment, however, and that would be the squirrels. Sure they're cute, but those squirrels somehow manage to evade the special device attached to the bird feeder pole that's supposed to keep them away. Those squirrels daily, heck hourly, hang all over that bird feeder and eat gobs of the cardinals' food. No wonder our budget has a special line item for bird seed--we go through industrial size bags at an alarming rate because we're also feeding hordes of hungry squirrels.
Well, smarty pants here finally got sick and tired of the squirrels trying to hog all the food, and I bought a fancy, smancy, guaranteed squirrel-proof feeder. Oh yeah, take that you cute, bushy-tailed oversized rodents! Problem solved.
Those squirrels couldn't figure out how to get to the food, and they just stared at the feeder with a look of consternation (and maybe a bit of angst) on their little rodent faces. I didn't feel one bit guilty...okay, that's a lie. I did feel a tiny bit bad. But still, victory over the squirrel dilemma. Score one for the cardinals...
...until I noticed something. The squirrels weren't eating, but neither were the cardinals! WHAT?! The lovely green bird feeder was filled to the brim with their usual fancy food. It was a sight to behold--shiny and new, clean and impressive. Only problem was, the cardinals refused to eat from it. The little teeny birds liked it fine, but alas, not the cardinals.
The lady at the store told me to wait. Never my strong suit. But after all, the squirrels were no longer bothering us and surely this new fangled feeder would be the ticket, so we waited. And waited...and waited...and waited. Day after day, we watched and waited, hoping the cardinals would recognize the error of their ways and return to their newfangled feeder.
Nada. Not a cardinal. They'd fly up to it...and then fly away. I couldn't tell if the look on their faces was disdain, disappointment, or downright despair. But we'd spent all that money on the fancy new feeder...the lady said it would work...so we'd just keep plowing ahead and assuming something would change.
And then one morning it hit me--this isn't working. Why on earth are we continuing ahead on this fruitless, unhappy course? It's time to repent! To turn around and go back the other way.
Clearly the direction we were headed was no good. So if we wanted the cardinals to come back, we needed to stop, turn around and go in the other direction--meaning, go back, pull that old, icky-looking, non-squirrel proof, unimpressive bird feeder out of the back of the garage and put it back up.
Guess how long it took the cardinals to return? Well, glad you asked--because I hadn't even gotten back up to the porch after hanging the old feeder back up before that lovely daddy cardinal (featured in my very crummy photograph) flew right up and started eating. And yes, guess who else quickly returned? Our buddies, the squirrel posse. I'm sure they've packed on five pounds apiece in the past few days off of our fancy bird food. But that's okay.
In fact, it's more than okay. Because squirrels gotta live too, right? And if a few pesky squirrels are the price we have to pay to get those magnificent crimson cardinals, then fine and dandy. Bring on the squirrels...because the cardinals fly in right behind them.
You can hashtag that JOY all day long in my book! Even more so now, because those cardinals and that battered old bird feeder will be a daily reminder to me that it's never too late to repent. It's never too soon or too late to turn around and run to the arms of your Heavenly Father. He loves you just as much on your worst day as on your best one. He's ready, willing and eagerly waiting to forgive you and envelop you in His love and grace--all you have to do is turn around and run to Him. Run to your Abba, your Daddy.
As a wonderful song, "One Step Away" by Casting Crowns puts it, "It doesn't matter how far you've gone. Mercy says you don't have to keep running down the road you're on. Love's never met a lost cause. Your shame, lay it down. Leave your ghosts in the past ‘cause you know that you can't go back. But you can turn around. You've never been more than one step away from surrender. One step away from coming home, coming home. One step from arms wide open. His love has never let you go. You're not alone. You're one step away."
Don't let pride...or inertia...or laziness...or stubbornness...or hopelessness prevent you from repenting. You don't have to keep running down that dead-end road to despair. Instead of running away, stop; turn around, and start running toward your Heavenly Father. Toward Home. Toward forgiveness and grace. Toward healing and wholeness. Toward redemption and restoration.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9) That promise is just as true today as it was two thousand years ago. It's just as true for the most hardened criminal, as it for you and for me. He's simply waiting for you to turn around and take that first step towards Home.
Thank You, Father, for the blood-red glory of the cardinals and for reminding me through them, that it's never too late to turn around and run to You. Thank You for Your grace and forgiveness bought for us by the blood of Your beloved Son, Jesus. By Your grace and for Your glory, help us today to take that first step toward You...because there's no place like Home.
To God be the glory.
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