Bird Song

My younger sis and I love to walk on our quiet country road, especially in the evening. There’s just one problem, though – when we’re walking back towards our house, the sun is squarely in our eyes. And that’s not very pleasant. So, a while back ,we decided to walk backwards until we reached the point where the sun wouldn’t be in our eyes. Kind of crazy, isn’t it?

It’s hard enough to walk backwards, but it’s even worse trying to think backwards. Have you ever tried to do that? Much of the Christian life seems backwards to me. To my mind, greatness should involve having servants and being important, but no. Greatness is found in being a servant. I would think that exalting myself would mean praising myself, showing others just how good I am. Nope. Exaltation comes when I humble myself and show how good the truly Great One is. To be first, I would elbow my way to the front of the line…but if I want to be first, I have to be last. And, if I want to keep my life, I should cling to it tightly – it makes sense to me. But if I want to save my life, I have to lose it first.

Just some thoughts. Why do I hold so stubbornly to my own way and think that any other way is “backwards”? Maybe I’m the one who needs to turn around. Because I do want to have a useful life—I do long to make a difference in the world for God. Don’t we all? But, just maybe, if more of us would be willing to die in little ways, the non-glamorous ways, the “serving the least of these” ways, if we would be willing to exalt God and go last, if we would be willing to lose our lives for Christ, we would see more of a difference. After all, with even small deaths to self (which simply means saying “Okay, Lord, Your way, not mine) fruit – usefulness –  is the result. Maybe we would see God do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think!” More than we could imagine! But who is willing to think backwards?