I had a fight with a robin last week.
Looking out my kitchen window, I could see something in the dish full of jelly for the orioles. I went and picked a couple of twigs out of the dish, chuckled at the silly robin, and went back inside.
A little while later, I was shocked to see the beginnings of a nest!
I ran out and plucked the brush and twigs out of the feeder. Dumb bird.
I got busy with things inside and the next time I looked out it was worse.
Now I was getting mad! This bird was not going to win. I went out there every once in a while and tossed out the beginnings of several nests.
When I told Gary and the boys about it at lunchtime, Blake laughed and said, “It’s kind of like you’re fighting yourself!”
In the afternoon, Gary pointed out that I was being pretty cruel to the poor robin. She was just trying to build a nest so she could lay her eggs. He was right, and I felt terrible. I did what he suggested and put a bag over the feeder to force her to build her nest somewhere else.
It worked. I left the bag on for a day or so, and when I took it off she didn’t try to build there again. She must have found another spot.
As I fought with the bird that day, I realized that Blake was right. I was fighting myself. The silly robin wanted to build her nest in the wrong place, and this silly Robyn sometimes wants to stay in places that are wrong for me.
I put time and energy into things that don’t really matter way too often, and, even worse, I let negative ideas fill my mind and crowd out more helpful, productive thoughts. Instead of brooding over the bad thoughts, I need to catch hold of every single one and get it out of my head.
I could barely keep ahead of that ambitious robin, and it can be even harder to stay ahead of all of the thoughts that try to take up residence in my brain. If only there were a way to cover everything and keep those thoughts out.
That may not be possible, but there is something I can do. When I get confused and frustrated by my tendency to keep going back to the same old thoughts and sins, I can focus on something else instead. Looking to the Lord for his wisdom and strength just may help me stop fighting myself and find the perfect place to rest.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15 NIV)
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” (1 Chronicles 16:11 NIV)
Do you ever get frustrated by your tendency to do the things you don’t want to do? How can focusing on God help you to turn from those things and rest in him instead?