I've been burdened lately by so many people I love that are going through some tough stuff. Some seem to be choosing the tough, most are just in it and can't see why.
Either way, as a child of God, He has a plan wayyyy bigger and better than we can see. So I'm reminded of this post from my "blog archives". We see our situation as an annoyance and completely frustrating, asking God *why*. But MAYBE He's just throwing Barbie clothes at you. It's all about perspective and trust.
In the Spring of 2010....
Here's the mini adventure that my boys, my niece and I had yesterday afternoon.
It's been really nice here, the back door sliding screen has been open ( no bugs yet) and as many times as I have closed it behind the kids, I have found it open again.
For a while I've been blaming them
"SHUT THE DOOR"!!
But I did witness the wind blow it open, so I'm not sure *who* left it open yesterday afternoon.
But it became the invitation to a visitor into our home.
At one point I walked into the kitchen, saw the door again was open and a little bird quickly flew out from the floor of the dining room.
Just a couple minutes later I walked in to my bedroom, which is down the hall, and a bird took a dive bomb flight around my head!!
So I did freak out a bit (or alot a bit), but once I knew it was a bird, I was laughing (ok after a small scream and a quick run OUTTA THERE!).
I ran to find the kids and called Nate.
Poor Nate, I think he gets weekly calls about something he really doesn't want to deal with while he's at work.
(i.e. there is water in the laundry room from a unknown source, there is water coming out from under the sink spilling onto the kitchen floor, the garage door won't shut, the Wii isn't working...THERE IS A BIRD IN THE HOUSE!)
Each time he is so calm and patient with me, it's quite amazing actually.
So the call yesterday consisted of my announcement, then his matter of fact and calm response, "I'm in Columbus, just open up a window".
At that point the bird flew into Emma's room and the 3 kids ran in after it...so did I.
I thought we should try to keep it in there since her room has 2 windows. I shut all 4 of us in there, I know, I know BRILLIANT!
I opened up the windows and the screens and thought for sure immediately the bird would fly right out thanking me along the way
...uhh...no...this required alot more time out of my day than I planned.
Logan became the "chief blind-holder-upper" on one window, Clayton and Kate one and only job was to stay in one place, and NOT SCREAM (that was enough responsibility for them).
As I sat on the bed for a minute to come up with a *brilliant plan*, I noticed my niece Kate had something white smeared all over the crown of her head, oh great...the bird.
"um, Kate, hunny what do you have in your hair?"
She matter-of-factly said " well we were playing outside and I put yogurt on my head to pretend it was my brains coming out"
Yes, she is smack in between my boys and two big brothers. enough said, totally understandable.
I stationed myself at the other window, holding up the blinds. Ok, so NOW it will just fly right out. I mean you can feel the breeze coming in, hear the other birdie friends calling it out, and see the trees just inviting it to COME THIS WAY.
But no, it decided time and time again to fly right into the mirror on the back of Emma's door. REALLY?? the mirror ( no it was not clean, there was no way it was looking like the outside, it was flying into FINGERPRINTS) was more appealing than TWO open windows??? BIRDS ARE DUMB, really dumb!!
After a couple more attempts at the mirror, it flew up onto my vintage baby clothing collection hanging on her wall. I was getting frustrated at this point, I don't have time for this.
Oh at this point I remembered I had lunch in the oven, and the timer had gone off some time ago....NICE! perfect.
In my position, I didn't have many options. But I did think I needed to get him to FLY. Cause he was perched up there for what seemed like forever!!
Looking around I saw what might just work...Barbie clothes!!!!
I grabbed a purple satin evening gown and flung it towards Tweetie, hmmm not heavy enough to go the distance. So I grabbed Prince Charming's 3pc suit ( now realizing both Barbie and Ken are naked somewhere...hmmm..what are they up to?)
I didn't want to throw something that would hurt him, just get him to MOVE! It worked!!!
The adventure was over, he flew right out Logan's window.
So last night as I was getting into bed, I noticed that Tweetie did indeed leave a mark for us to remember him by. As I (oh, I mean Nate) cleaned up the mess it got me thinking...
Aren't we like that bird??? That DUMB BIRD.
We get ourselves into a situation and God DOES provide a way, or multiple ways out, and yet we see a mirror (looks good) and bang our head into that over and over, get mad at the situation, hear our wise counsel encouraging us to make a good choice, and yet again we choose to fly into the mirror!
Then our Father, who doesn't want to harm us, wants us to make good choices, He wants us to see that we can trust Him and what He has planned is PERFECT.
Safe.
And when it's the right time He may just have to throw *Barbie clothes* at us.
Something to MAKE us FLY!!!
Is He throwing *Barbie clothes* at you?????
~Amber
