The Gift of Meekness

Twenty-two degrees below zero this morning!  This winter has been a real roller coaster ride, weather-wise.  The whole country reels under extreme changes in the jet stream.  Sunny days give way to frigid nights and rainy afternoons have us breaking open frozen doors the next morning.

Our bird feeder has gotten frozen so often that I just go out with a ladle and spoon seed onto the shelf.  I always feel sorry for the birds during such extreme weather changes.  What must they think sleeping snugly in the pine trees, waking up nearly buried alive?  It's hard to keep the bird feeder clear of blowing snow or freezing rain so they can get to the seed.  The ground feeders haven't a chance of finding seed buried in deep drifts or frozen solid to the ground.  In such weather I discover all of them politely taking turns at a tiny open patch on the feeder ledge.  In better weather there's much bickering and pushing and the ground feeders don't even attempt to invade the higher "ground".  They must sense that survival depends on cooperation under such conditions.  Or maybe that's just the way God made them!

It makes me think about how much we are like that.  We can be bickering and fussing over the pettiest of details under ordinary circumstances but it's a different story when a crisis arises.  Bad times often bring out the best in us. 

That must be what God meant when He inspired Paul to write to the Galations at 6:2: 

"Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." 

Unlike the birds which behave by instinct, we can choose how we respond to adverse condition.  Often times it is the quiet, smiling widow or the tired, sleep deprived mother who lead the way yielding to others in need.  Don’t forget Jesus’ promise in Matt. 5:5;

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

As in the natural world, we are all affected by what happens to those around us – especially in the Church.  "No man is an island unto himself.  Even if the weather is fair and sunny, let's renew our efforts to have the same attitude as Christ...

Philippians 2:3-7, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  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."

Love as always,  Elaine