birds on a wire (Photo credit: Vurnman)
As I drove past the interchange on I-16, I noticed a flock of pigeons perched on the power line. I didn’t count them but guessed there were 30 or more lined up on the wire, just sitting there waiting for something to happen – maybe hoping for a truckload of corn to be accidentally spilled along the highway (“Bob, do you remember the big corn spill of ’07? Boy, what a feast!”).
Or perhaps they were just talking among themselves, passing the afternoon away until it was time to go home to roost. (“Well, I think I’ll go home, take a little nap, then go over to Thelma Lou’s and watch a little TV”)
The next day my schedule took me back in that direction and they were in the same place. Since I didn’t pay enough attention to recognize any individuals from the day before, I wasn’t sure it was the same group – but I assumed it was. I wondered if they were lined up in the same order as the previous day, like us church-goers who sit in the same location in the pews each week. (“Hey! Move over – that’s my spot!”)
I’m not an expert on pigeon perception but I doubt they noticed me at all. (“Hey Joe, isn’t that the same red pickup that came by yesterday?”)
The pigeons and I didn’t make a connection. I was passing by and happened to see them for an instant. After those few odd thoughts, my brain turned to whatever I was thinking before. They were in their own little world, which didn’t include the people passing by on the interstate.
But some people do make connections with pigeons. The owners of homing pigeons easily recognize individual birds. They know each bird’s peculiarities in flight and pickiness in eating. In a race, the owner knows which one will get back first, and which one will lag behind the others. The connection is made because someone cares enough to invest their time and effort to make it happen.
I’ll agree most people won’t feel a desire to make connections with pigeons. I may notice them the next time I travel I-16, but I doubt I’ll get off the interstate to go introduce myself.
But there is a connection we need to invest time and effort to strengthen – our connection with God. In these busy days, it’s too easy to keep trucking down the road, giving only an occasional glance or thought in His direction and then moving on. So let’s stop awhile and sit and talk…or maybe like the pigeons, just sit.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
I Was Thinking the Other Day About... 
Enjoyed your little analogy. We could say God knows each of His own children intimately like a pigeon owner knows his birds.
One could probably draw several analogies from this scene. I thought of how we tend to see groups, not individuals. All pigeons ever do is sit around. All latinos are hot-blooded, etc. That “You can’t see the trees for the forest” mentality.
In blogs lately I’ve seen a lot of “I wanted to go to church, but all Christians in all churches are self-righteous snobs, unfriendly” etc. Yet when I think of individual church-goers I know, I can’t see them being that way.
Thanks, Christine, for the thoughtful comments. Since we Christians are people, I agree that we can at times make mistakes – and be self righteous, unfriendly, etc. But, in most of the blogs I read that go the direction you mention, it ends up just being a handy excuse for the blogger to do what they want to do, not what God tells them to do.
We have half a dozen pigeons fly in every day and sit on our hillside pecking at the ground. They must be creatures of habit like us. 🙂 And I agree, we need to make God a daily, not a weekly or monthly, priority.
God Bless you & yours!
Thanks Dei – God Bless you and yours also!