Birdhouses – Straight From the Heart

I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life. He gave me life that I might enjoy all things.

How many years has it been like that? At least two, I think. When I first realized the birdhouse had flipped, I decided to keep it like that as a reminder for me to stop expecting everything to be sooo perfect. Even the Garden of Eden had a slithering, conniving snake in it.

Yesterday, while resting our tired, aching bones from working in the yard, I asked my husband if he would fix it; I don’t need a reminder anymore; my perfectionist self doesn’t come by as often these days. Sometimes she thinks about moving back in, but I slam the door in her face. Temporary visits are more than enough for me to handle.

“I’ll fix it when we’re finished with the yard this evening.”

Suddenly, a bluebird flew in and out, and then another. There’s a family living there now! All those years it’s been hanging upright, absolutely vacant. Now that it’s upside-down, it’s the perfect home to set up house-keeping. We’re not home wreckers, so we’ll wait until they move out before we renovate it.

And I got to thinking. That old, imperfect, upside-down birdhouse is hardly a dream home with all the modern conveniences, a double car garage, and a swimming pool in the backyard. But the happily married couple chose it to raise their little, blue-feathered babies.

We live in a generation a million miles away from the old farmhouses with no running water, no light switches, and a toilet a mile from the house. A generation that doesn’t find pleasure in walking through the woods, sitting on a log before a trickling stream, dreaming and meditating, and feeling close to God.

When we take our eyes off the treasures we already have, we begin comparing ourselves with the rich and seemingly more successful than ourselves. Young people, still wet behind the ears, have the biggest houses and newest cars equipped with more gadgets than they know how to work or will probably ever use. And we’re sitting in our wheelchairs, beating ourselves up because our dreams turned into dust.

I’m learning, ever so slowly, that life is less complicated when I stop beating myself up for my imperfections and bringing my lofty expectations back down to earth. Like the bluebirds nesting in the old, broken-down birdhouse, I’m learning to be more content and reminding myself that life isn’t perfect and neither am I.

John 16:33
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!”

Stress! Who isn’t feeling it these days? As a kid dealing with parents, two brothers, and school, I’d run bawling to my bedroom, slam the door shut, play my accordion, and sing until my tears dried up, and my heart felt happy again.

Today, dealing with a husband, two dogs, and everything in between, I still run bawling to my bedroom, and slam the door shut, but my accordion is too heavy to pick up, and I rarely ever sing anymore. And when I do, the dogs run and hide!

One day, at the brink of insanity, I glared out my bedroom window and noticed that our birdhouse on the old maple tree was hanging upside down. Just like I’m feeling, I grumbled to myself. Upside down! Inside out! My world is falling apart and everything in it is screaming, “Fix me!” and I don’t want to deal with it anymore!

I took a picture of the broken, upside-down birdhouse to use in my digital art, and as a reminder that ugly things can become beautiful when we see them from a different perspective. The ugly mess on the outside may not change, but the ugly mess on the inside; our rotten attitudes, anger, and resentment will change when we ask God for help. When we read His Word and listen as He speaks, and do what He says. He never promised He’d make things easy for us. He promised that He would always be there. That He will never put on us more than we can bear. That His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.

Things in my world are still broken, but today they don’t seem as broken as they were yesterday or the day before. I’m even thinking of leaving the birdhouse hanging upside down. It’s not so bad. I kinda like it that way. Maybe the birds will like it that way, too. Maybe they’ll want all the birdhouses turned upside down. Okay, stop! One broken, upside-down birdhouse is enough!