A Christmas Story About Birds

I was reminded of an old story this past weekend, one that I have heard before: There was a man who was an agnostic, but his wife and daughter were Christian. One Christmas Eve, the wife and daughter were going to a candlelight service at the church, and the wife asked him, “Are you sure that you don’t want to come?” He smiled and said, “No, the idea that God would become a man to come down to save us from our sins just doesn’t make since to me, but you go ahead.” He kissed his wife and daughter goodbye, and they went on to church. Sometime after they left, he noticed some birds fluttering around in the snow in his yard. He became concerned, because these birds should have flown south for the winter, and were not prepared to survive the cold. He was a compassionate man, and realized that his barn was heated; if he could just the birds into the barn, then they would live. He bundled up and went outside, opened the barn doors, and started trying to shoo the birds into the barn. No matter what he did, though, every time he came close to the birds, they scattered. He tried coming from different angles, but it didn’t matter. His efforts were thwarted because the birds couldn’t understand that he was trying to help them, no matter how non-threatening he tried to be. Finally, in frustration, he cried out, “It’s no use! I would have to become a bird in order to save these birds!” Just then, he heard the church bells ring in the distance, and his earlier words rang in his ears: “The idea that God would become a man to come down and save us…” He fell to his knees in the snow, and cried out to God, “Now I understand!”
I think that a lot of times, things happen that we don’t understand. We ask the question, “Why would God do that?” or “Why did God allow that to happen?” We ask, because we don’t understand. Part of the problem is that our own understanding of the world around us is very limited. Meteorologists have an expression: “A butterfly flapping its wings in Kansas today can cause a tornado in Japan tomorrow,” which really just means that the planetary atmospheric system is too complex to be analyzed. There are many, many variables, from insects to sunspots, even if we knew exactly, every contributing factor to tomorrow’s weather, we still wouldn’t be able to calculate accurate predictions 100% of the time. And that’s just the weather. Can you imagine the complexities of a global socio-economic system? My decisions may very well impact what kind of day you have (and not just because you are reading what I am writing), just as other people’s choices impact my life. God understands all of that. Sometimes He will allow things to happen to us, just so that someone else will be able to see, “Oh, that’s how a Christian reacts to something like that.” Unfortunately, sometimes all they really see is just how human we really are (well, that’s not always unfortunate). We are human, none of us are perfect, but we know the One who is perfect. It’s important that we trust Him, allow Him to guide our steps, and let Him work out the good in things.