Bird Brain

A robin is determined to fly through my studio window.  It spends hours each day flying into the glass and dropping to the window sill.  From there it darts up to the fence and makes another run at the window.  Over and over, all day long.  He can never catch the other bird, or enter into the house, or whatever his bird-brain is telling him to do, despite repeating the same exercise over and over again.

My bird friend has a vast world in which to seek entertainment.  If it is a partner he wants, there are millions of other robins around that are far less elusive than the one he thinks he sees reflected in the glass.  If it is a threat he perceives, a mere change in perspective is all he needs to realize the error of his ways, although the battering he gives himself each time he throws himself against the window is likely painful enough for him to believe he is being abused!

Albert Einstein reportedly said that the definition of insanity is to repeat the same action expecting different results.

It is a good exercise to consider all the things I have repeated in life to no avail.  Weight loss and controlling people are two that come to mind right away.  It has taken me so many years to understand that control is an illusion, whether over my own life or someone else's.

When I change my perspective to view my body as the temple of the Holy Spirit rather than a battleground for my will, I am able to release my control and consider how best to care for it--which starving and abusing through excessive exercise is not!

Likewise when I consider my propensity to herd others toward my viewpoint of what is right, I have discovered that a change in perspective gives me freedom to allow others to make their own mistakes and revel in their own successes.  I have no guilt if things go awry, nor pride if they do not. There is much peace with this way of life not experienced at any time when I felt the need to direct the lives of those around me.

I can't change the bird's mind, but with the grace (power and ability) of God within me, I can certainly set a different course for my own life.

I pray as you consider the areas in your life in which you are confronted with an impenetrable resistance, you will not repeatedly batter yourself with the same actions only to end with the same miserable resulting experiences.  Rather, I hope you will tap into God's grace and allow Him to change your perspective so that you may see your situation in a different light, with different solutions to your problems or such a changed view that you realize your problems were merely figments of your imagination after all.