Angry Bird

For a year, a beautiful red male cardinal has been violently attacking every window of my house. He starts before the sunrises and continues until the sunsets. It’s an exahausting ritual for both of us.

Cardinals are very territorial birds and mate for life. The Cardinal sees his reflection in the windows and thinks another Cardinal is trying to invade his territory.  As he flies around my house charging each and every window, including the mirror in my garage, his “wife” a muted colored cardinal with a vibrant orange beak watches. She perches calmly on branches, drinks in my bird bath and watches her ticked off husband fight his imaginary friend.  I am surprised that he hasn’t cracked his beak or hurt himself by now. It’s truly a matter of time.  

How many people do you know that manifest a problem or create a situation that is not real? Perhaps, a low self-esteem or  insecurity puts energy into a situation, event or person that  creates a problem that really shouldn’t exist otherwise. What about someone who is beating themselves up over a past mistake?  We must let go of guilt and forgive ourselves to heal and build a better relationship with God.   How about someone who  holds onto anger and refuses to forgive others? Know anyone like that?

Much like the Red Bird, who fights himself, when people refuse to let go of anger, guilt, resentment, refuse to forgive themselves, refuse to forgive others; the only real person they are hurting is themselves. When we live with this kind of pent up anger, everything we do all day long has a cast of negative around it. We exert negative energy, aggression and frankly we waste the energy that could be used to live life fully in God’s beautiful garden. This kind of angry living, effects everyone around this person.

As I watched this Cardinal day in and day out, soon I saw that his anger rubbed onto a fellow friend in the garden a Blue Jay. The huge blue jay began to charge our windows too. We’ve all heard that misery loves company and that negatively is contagious, well it is. The big blue bird had even more power as it hit our windows. At this point, I thought “Great, now I’m going to have to replace all my windows!” Luckily, the blue bird was smart enough to stop after my huband ran him off in the yard.

The Cardinal thinks he is protecting himself and his family, but really he is hurting himself and those he loves the most. He could be enjoying life in the garden calmly instead of beating his head up against the wall. When we release our anger, situations, guilt, mistakes to God, the release and reward are ours. We feel free! We start to look at life differently. Things begin to feel more peaceful, colorful and calm.

Seems like this Angry bird needs to spend sometime reflecting with God instead of staring at his own Angry reflection. Time to be a Free Bird instead of an angry RED bird! Perhaps, you or someone you know is like this bird.

Bible Verse Today:

• Isaiah 38:14 Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!
• Psalm 55:6 ESV And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;
• Proverbs 29:22 A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression.
  

Reflection:

1. Do you need to forgive someone? Or yourself? ( Pray to God to help you release and forgive)

2. Are you exerting too much negative energy on a situation or person? ( Hand the situation over to God)

3. Are you being influenced by an Angry Bird? Pray for protection, pray for that person and Distance yourself from anything not of God.

4. Work on Seeing the Positive things about Yourself. When you look in the mirror or think about you…Know that God loves you.