A week or so ago I posted a picture of a hummingbird that landed on my head after it flew into our living room window. The Holy Spirit kept bringing that incident to my mind and reminded me of how very like this hummer you and I are as we go through our lives.
If you have spent much time observing hummingbirds, you will know that at certain times of the year they are absolutely manic. They zoom back and forth, dipping and swaying and dive bombing each other. It is truly quite a show if one takes the time to sit and watch. They jealously guard their feeding spot from the other hummers that fly by, but that vigilance prevents them from doing much feeding. Many times I have watched one hummer perch on a tree limb near a feeder, being very still until another hummer comes along and tries to feed. Suddenly, from out of nowhere here comes this tiny B1 bomber, chattering away and nearly flogging the bird that is trying to get some food. These birds will fly around chasing each other in a seemingly never ending game. It is only at night that they rest, yet they are up early the next morning to do it all again.
Several times each year, we will have a hummingbird that is in the midst of this crazy, manic behavior, fly into our windows. Sometimes, they just stun themselves, like the one that I encountered in the picture, but sometimes they hit the glass with such force that they die. Are you beginning to see a picture of you and me in this?
We zoom around taking care of business, eating, drinking, working, playing—all at a dangerously frenzied pace. We get so busy ‘doing life’ that we don’t pay attention to the fact that we are flying straight toward a glass wall until we have splattered right into it. We fall to the ground stunned and sometimes broken and all we can do is lie there. What brought us to that point? Why didn’t we see the wall we crashed into? How in the world do we pick ourselves back up and go on?
Well, the real answer is that WE do not pick ourselves back up and go on. Oh sure, we can do get back up, but will that give us the best outcome? I don’t think so. Perhaps that glass wall was there for a reason. Perhaps the Lord was trying to get our attention and say, “Hey, I’m here. I’m all you need. All this crazed activity is just exhausting you. What you really need is some time with Me.” Just as that little hummingbird sought refuge on my head in order to overcome her crash into the glass, you and I need to seek refuge in the presence of our heavenly Father and feel His strength and comfort sustain us.
Psalm 18: 1-3 says, “I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved…”
My little hummingbird friend was a beautiful reminder to me that I need to slow down and simply sit a spell with God. It is so easy to be trapped by the captivity of activity and forget to take time for Jesus. Let’s not be so busy that we don’t take time for the One who gave His life for us!!