I was driving home the other day and all of a sudden a
really large bird swoops down in the grass to the side of my car and grabs a
snake. It seems effortless. The bird never stops flying. It just rises in front
of my car and flies away with its prize tightly grasped in its claws. I am
certain this thing happens all the time but very few times have I witnessed
such a feat in person. There were several thoughts that ran through my mind.
The first being, “Dang that bird has a snake!” Followed by, “Dumb bird you
better fly or I am going to take you and your bounty out with this car.” But
those thoughts aren't very inspiring so on to the “meaty” thoughts. I thought
how I want to be the bird. I want to focus in on my goals, dive wholeheartedly
into them and then glide off into the horizon with my tangible sense of
accomplishment grasped tightly in my hands. However, I think more often than
not I feel like the snake. Going about my day none the wiser to the talons
about to carry me off into something completely different than what I had
planned. Now if we follow that snake it is more than likely headed for a brutal
ending and praise God my life doesn't feel quite so certain for doom. But I
want to be the bird not the snake. The predator; not the prey. The thing is
that we don’t become the bird without some effort or some driving force. No
matter how easy it appeared to me, it didn't just happen for that bird. There
was something driving her. Hunger maybe or a need to provide quite literally
set that bird in motion. What can I do today to set things in motion? What can
you do? Am I doing something to “go after” things or am I just allowing things
to happen? Don’t be the snake!
I have recently become more involved in the women's ministry at my church, LifePoint . We have monthly women's ministry events called Sisterhood Gatherings and for these last couple of months, they have been focused on living our "such a time as this" moments bravely and boldly. In September we took a closer look at the story of Esther and the different seasons or times she traveled before getting to her famous "such a time as this" moment (Hear that message here ). We were asked to search our hearts to identify the thing that is holding us back and for many women it was fear. This fear isn't phobia kind of fears, although those can be quite scary, but the fear that keeps us awake at night, the fear that stops us from taking that next step or making changes in our lives. Then this past Friday, a good friend brought a message of what next steps to overcoming our fears might look like and it really resonated with me. For many years I have tried, so...
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