The Similarity Between You and a Sparrow

A delicate sparrow returns to hit his beak loudly against our window, waking me up now for the EIGHTH day in a row. Does he/she not get that this is a window? How much pain can this little bird take? I mean, eight days! You would think it would get it by now. But no, no. It returns only to repeat its disruptive, obnoxious behavior again and again.  

 

I look up with my eyes slightly open to the day’s sunlight and let out a deep sigh. I am not unlike this bird. Hoping the bird can read my mind, I let out a thought, I get you bird. I really get you.

 

How many times have we hit our head against a “window” only to return to it again and again? Uh…a lot! The teenagers in our world are much the same: A 13-year-old girl returns to her dead-beat boyfriend; a 16-year-old thinks if he tries hard enough, he’ll win his friends’ approval; she convinces herself that if she loses just 10 more pounds she’ll be happy; he hopes his friends won’t catch on to his slowly increasing drug use. The list goes on and on.

Solomon, aka the wisest man who ever lived, uses a disgusting analogy when he wrote, “As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). Or…so a bird returns to its window…so a youth worker continues to “walk the line”…so a needy teenager desperately seeks approval.

 

Solomon uses the word “vomit,” and what he really means is sin. Ouch! Sometimes in my effort to keep a friendly face with teenagers I neglect to call a bad choice and poor behavior what it really is: sin. I don’t like that word! Isn’t there something we can use that’s more “friendly”? Truth is, last I checked Jesus wasn’t real friendly in his confrontation of sinful behavior. He called it what it was while flooding the sinner with his love and mercy. 

 

Let’s strive to follow his example. A few ways to get away from that window:

Start with yourself. Hold up the mirror to your own behaviors (both private and public) and ask God, “What is my window?” “What do I return to that is sin?”

Don’t be afraid to lovingly call a student out. Remind them there is nothing they can do to separate themselves from the love of God (Romans 8), but that what they are doing is sin.

Live in community with others. Share what “window” you return to with someone you trust and ask for accountability.

 

The bird hasn’t returned for quite a few days now. Perhaps it is getting wiser…and so are we.