The
Big Scary Thing
July
23, 2014
Summers
in Georgia are oppressively hot, as you can imagine. Even the birds
land panting in the afternoon heat. I hate to be closeted in the
house all day so I brave the heat to sit slowly rocking on the porch,
enjoying the occasional breeze. As I sit on the porch, a man passes
by and greetes me in a generic way and I reply with, “A hot one,
isn't it?” His reply is very interesting...
“Oh,
I'm used to this – it ain't hurtin' nobody.”
Of
couse he's right. The heat isn't really a burden, just
uncomfortable.
I'm
waiting out here to catch a mother wren bringing food to her newly
hatched young. She built a nest in a most unlikely place – a cloth
bag hanging under the mail box awaiting newspapers. The mailman
delivers mail above her nest each day. Fortunately, there are no
longer any newspaper subscriptions here. Our family comes and goes
through the front door every day, sometimes with a great hub-bub. If
there's a Big Scary Thing on the porch she hangs back, refusing to
give away the treasure she's hidden in the yellow bag. She flutters
worriedly from bush to vine, railing to pillar waiting for the danger
to pass. She doesn't know that her young have already been
discovered and we peek daily into the bag to watch the bare skinned
chicks growing. Today, they opened their gaping mouths as I “tsk,
tsked” at them before settling in to wait for Mom's delivery.
I
have to sit very still in the far corner of the porch for her to feel
the coast is clear. She plots a circuitous route onto the railing,
hops to a potted plant, sidesteps to the chair leg; always keeping
low and quick moving. It's almost comical, the time and effort she
puts into her stealthy approach. It's all for nothing! We pose
absolutely no threat to her little treasures. But to her, we are a
Big Scary Thing.
Rich
and I are soon returning home from vacation to face our own “Big
Scary Thing”. We received a diagnosis that no one wants to hear –
Cancer. Many others have faced this before and are still battling
it. That provides some comfort, knowing that others are walking this
hard road. But what if cancer is as we are to this little, busy
wren?. Maybe I am seeing this as a Big Scary Thing when it is merely
a bump in the road of life? Maybe I'm imagining a heavy burden where
there is just discomfort? Jesus wants us to find the rest that is
waiting with Him;
“Come
to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My
yoke is easy and My burden light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Love
as always, Elaine
