Where's the Perch???

I'm not sure how this came about, but, at some point in time, by husband, Dennis, started making birdhouses for us to put in our backyard. I was given what turned out to be the enjoyable task of decorating them (hot tip: adding embellishments like wooden images from Hobby Lobby might look cute, but a year later they don't look too hot and begin to separate from the body). While for the most part I found the task fun, I couldn't help asking Dennis if he'd considered putting a little perch on the birdhouses. The perches look kind of cute, and wouldn't it be a pleasant addition for the birds' use?

Ha! Why did I even ask? I should have remembered that Dennis rarely, if ever, does things "off the cuff." He attacks new projects with mathematical precision. If he's going to plant a new plant he hasn't dealt with before, he researches all about it. If he's going to can (something I help with, but he's been the mainstay of that department in this household), he researches all the details for prepping and follow through for that particular item. If he's going to repair something, his first step—again—is, of course, research. Why would I even think that his construction of birdhouses would be different? Of course he researched the best way to build them—including the use of perches.

It turns out that while perches might be aesthetically pleasing, in practice they're not so hot for resident birds. When the nesting family is utilizing the lovely home we have provided, they are made extremely uncomfortable when an alien bird—that is, a bird which might be an actual enemy or just perceived as an enemy—dares to perch at the entrance of their home. So, in the interest of maintaining the security and comfort of our nesting visitors, no perches is the way to go.

Well.

We've had sparrows and bluebirds take advantage of the homes we provided. No bigger birds because Dennis made sure to research the correct size of the holes for bluebirds, his favorite bird. (There's his trademark precision showing again!) Our little visitors lay their eggs, raise their families, then fly away for their normal roosting life in the trees. The only time they nest in our little houses is when they get ready to have offspring.

And, I learned from my walking encyclopedia (that would be Dennis), they are creatures of habit—the same birds and their offspring come back year after year. It may sound prideful, but facts are facts—our birdhouses are so coveted that the cute little birds actually fight over them!

But I digress. Back to the perch.

It hit me this morning what a great analogy these perches make about the things of this world versus what God would have for us.

"I can give money to the poor. I can help fund indigent rabbis. I can help downtrodden widows." All that and more the rich young man in the Bible thought to do, all the while patting himself on the back. How crestfallen he was when Jesus told him that while all that was good—it was not good enough. He turned away, sad because to give up all his wealth just wasn't on the radar for him (Mt. 19:6-22). But what did the rich young ruler miss by not giving Jesus his whole heart? The rich young ruler wanted the perch (i.e., his riches), come what may, not realizing that giving it up would open up a greater store of treasure for him.

Like the monkeys in the Philippines caught by their trying to pull out a "pretty" from a jar. They refuse to let go, a simple action that would immediately end their entrapment. We also hang on tenaciously to what we want, without taking into account what Father God wants.

Our Christian perches might look something like this:

"But I want to tell the secret I just learned!" (Not taking into account what God says in Proverbs 11:13 and other similar passages.)

"A little nip won't hurt anything!" (Not taking into account the many passages like Ephesians 5:18 that admonish Christians to refrain from drunkenness {I'm not judging you here, but I have seen more examples of Christians that slide from "one little drink" into drunkenness than Christians who practice consistent restraint in imbibing.})

"But I love him!" (Turning a blind eye to the many scriptures that talk about sexual immorality like Hebrews 13:4.)

"I don't have any other vices, there's nothing wrong with a good, healthy appetite!" (This is a hard one to swallow {I LOVE to eat!!!!!} {no pun intended!} but Scripture is Scripture. The rich young ruler was told to do all God would have Him do, and that includes putting a knife to our throat when we want to overindulge in food! {Philippians 3:18-19 and many other scriptures}.)

These—and other—perches in our lives might "feel" good and "right," but they are not God's way. In the end, we'll end up with something not so hot, with some human equivalent of those scary "alien" birds. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12).

Lord, help us yield our love for the perches in our lives to You. Let us trust in Your way, trusting that it is far better than anything we want to cling to, as well as for our ultimate good.

"As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him" (Psalm 18:30).