The Bird

THE BIRD

“With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.” – Proverbs 7:21-23

When THE BIRD was only several weeks old, its parents launched it from its nest and forced it to fly.  And fly it did.  The bird took to flying immediately, as soon as the air caught its outstretched, panicked wings.  It learned quickly how to stay in the air, take off and land and navigate the currents of the wind.  Within just a few days of leaving the nest, the bird had become well adept at flying…and found JOY in it.

The bird didn’t know much.   It didn’t even know or care what KIND of bird it was, it simply LOVED to fly.  It flew longer and higher each time it took flight.  Somedays it would fly so far away that it had to land and rest and look for food to restore the energy spent doing what it loved so much before it could find its way home again. 

Food.  The bird also LOVED to eat.  It would eat many different kinds of food when it got hungry after a long day of flying.  It would eat large bugs, earthworms or grubs, meat from dead mice or squirrels or the occasional sardine or minnow it would come across on the shoreline of the beach or a lake.  The bird loved the fish the most because those seemed to give him the most energy when he was tired and he loved the way they tasted more than any other food.  He longed to be able to catch a large fish out of the water knowing it would provide him a FEAST, but he never quite could get the courage to try.

One day, the bird flew so high that it caught a very strong wind current that swept him up and far away from his home and his family.  It loved soaring on the high breezes and rode this current for miles and miles in the clear, sunny sky, across great swaths of forests and hills, not even noticing that at some point during his flight, the land slowly turned to dry, dusty desert below.

The bird finally realized it was now very far from home and in unfamiliar territory.  It became tired and decided to land and look for some food to regain its strength before it headed home.  When it set foot on the ground, it couldn’t find a patch of grass from which to harvest worms or a lake or pond in which to catch a minnow.  The ground on which it stood was hard, dry and cracked for miles and miles…as far as it could see.  It was now too tired and hungry to fly, so it decided to walk for a bit to see if it could find some food, any food…somewhere.

The sun began to set and the bird was unable to find any food.  Tired, lost and hungry now, it decided it would bed down there in the open desert for the night and resume his search for food in the morning after it got some rest.  

The next day, the bird was awakened by a noise.  When it opened his eyes, it saw a Stranger standing above, shielding it from the morning sun as it rose against the horizon.  “You OK down there?” the Stranger asked in a concerned tone of voice.

“Yes, I’m OK…just hungry.  I haven’t eaten in a long time and I’m weak.  I don’t have enough energy to fly back home and I’m really hungry.  Do you have any food?”

“Food?  Hmmm…well, I have some sardines.  Do you like sardines?”  The Stranger pulled out a fresh can full of large, juicy, fresh sardines.  The bird could smell the fish immediately and his beak began to water. “Sardines? I LOVE SARDINES! Can I have a few?”

“Well, these sardines aren’t free, my friend.  These are the best sardines you’re going to find around here.  Do you have something to trade?”

“Trade?  I don’t have anything to exchange.  All I have are my feathers.”

“I can take feathers.  I tell you what.  You give me two feathers and I’ll give you a sardine.  How’s that sound?”

“Perfect!  I’ve got LOTS of feathers.  Here, take four feathers and give me TWO sardines.  Thank you, Mr. Stranger.”

The Stranger gave the bird the two sardines and the bird plucked out four of its own feathers and gave them to the stranger in return.  These were the biggest, juiciest sardines the bird had ever eaten.  It devoured them immediately because it was famished.  The sardines tasted WONDERFUL.  They gave it real joy and immediate energy and it stretched out its wings and flew! 

The bird was back in business.  It soared high again, into the wind current.  But the current was flowing in the opposite direction of where his home was, far away.  It had renewed energy, but not near enough to fly against the strong winds to get home.  So, it soared for hours high above, watching the cracked ground below, keeping an eye out for more food or a lake where it might find more sardines. 

But it didn’t.  After many hours in the air, it became tired and hungry again so it decided to land, thinking maybe it could find the Stranger and make another trade for more sardines.  And it did.  The Stranger was there waiting for the bird when it landed and was happy to exchange two more sardines for four more feathers.  The bird was rejuvenated with energy again and took to the sky immediately.  He absolutely LOVED how these delicious sardines made him feel.  He wasn’t worried about his feathers.  He still had LOTS of them.  After many more hours of flying and evening coming soon, the bird eventually landed and went back for more sardines from the Stranger.  

Since the bird was so far from home now and the wind currents were so strong, keeping him from flying home, this pattern went on for quite some time.  Days stretched into weeks and weeks stretched into months and the Stranger kept giving the bird sardines and the bird kept exchanging feathers each time. The bird was a long way from home which made it lonely and wanting to return to its family and friends. Pulling out its own feathers hurt and left sores on the bird’s skin and they didn’t heal very quickly. The bird had a vague sense that it needed to stop depending on the Stranger’s sardines and find a better source of food, but it was soon able to forget about the loneliness, pain and worry once he was up in the air and flying.

One day, the bird took off for flight, hoping maybe the wind current had shifted but as soon as it got ten or so feet into the air, it fell from the sky and landed with a THUD on the dry, cracked ground.  It didn’t understand what was happening.  It looked around to see if the Stranger saw him fall.  That had never happened before, and the bird was a bit embarrassed.  The Stranger was no where to be found so the bird tried to fly again, but it immediately fell from the sky with another painful THUD!   No matter what it did, no matter how fast it ran during takeoff or how hard it flapped its wings, the bird could not fly more than a few feet before it would come crashing to the ground.  It tried many times, running and flapping and flailing and each time landing hard in a crumbled heap on the dry, cracked ground.

Now the bird was exhausted.  It laid on the ground, helpless and bruised, lonely, tired and hungry.  It hoped the Stranger would show up soon to help him, but he didn’t.  The bird spent the night there alone on the dry, cracked ground.  That was the beginning of the worst, most frightening night of the bird’s life. It hardly slept at all.  Its stomach growled in hunger.  Its beak was dry and parched.  It had terrible nightmares of being caught in a fowler’s snare or net.  It just wanted the night to end, for the sun to come up and for someone, anyone to come and help.

When it awoke the next morning, thankful it had made it through the night, the Stranger arrived and said in a mocking tone of voice,  “You don’t look so good.  You look weak.  You look tired.  Looks like you’ve been having trouble flying, huh?  What’s the problem?”

“I don’t know.  I think I just need some more energy.  Can you give me another sardine or two?”  The bird held out its wing in front of its beak to pull another feather…and noticed it only had a few feathers left on its wing at all.  It had given them all away to the Stranger.  The bird suddenly realized in HORROR…THAT’S why it couldn’t fly.