If I Could Only Become A Bird
For Women By Women
Submitted by Paula Neff
December 13, 2024
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
A Paul Harvey story. This family had a tradition where the mother and children would go to the service on Christmas Eve, and the father would stay home and read the paper. When the family returned home from church, they would all gather to open their presents.
The father was not an evil man, but he just couldn’t believe in the childhood stories anymore of God coming as a baby in a manger. As the family left for church, he opened up the evening paper and began to read by the fireplace.
Suddenly, he heard tapping on the window. It was a bird flying against the glass of his window trying to get out of the snow into the warmth of his home. The man had compassion on the bird, and he went outside, hoping to bring it in.
As he approached, the bird flew against the window even harder. Pretty soon, the bird flew into the bushes, half frozen, yet too afraid to be caught by this huge man. The more the man tried to reach for the bird, the more it flew frantically into the snow and thorns of the bushes.
After a few minutes in the cold and seeing the bird continue to injure itself, the man yelled out in frustration, “Stupid bird, can’t you understand that I’m trying to help you?” The man paused and thought, “If only you understood...if only…if only I could become a bird like you and get you to understand.”
Just then, the church bells rang, as they always had - on the hour. But when the man heard the bells this time, he fell to his knees and began to cry, saying, “Oh, God, I didn’t understand. Oh, God, I didn’t understand.”
Suddenly, he pictured that ordinary-looking infant, lying in the manger, in that stable in Bethlehem, and he KNEW – God had become one of us to tell us that He loves us and wants to redeem us, to rescue us from sin. God’s sinless Son came in human form that we might understand our condition as sinners and how we can be restored to God.
Consider: “The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life.” ~~Corrie Ten Boom
