Sing Your Heart Out

In January we inherited a cat, affectionately known as Charlie. He's a pretty good cat and behaves himself well. However we also have birds. Now you know how birds and cats like one another – they don't! Charlie was pretty good, usually he would just sit back and eye them warily, watching for an unguarded moment when he could perhaps get at them through the bars, but it was not to be so for the bars are simply too close together for his large paws. One day after coming home from church, we discovered the birdcage turned upside down laying on the floor and Charlie was nowhere to be found. We assume that he had somehow managed to knock the birdcage off its perch which caused it then to roll down onto a chair and then down onto the floor. Amazingly, both birds were unharmed, if not a little frightened. We must have walked in the door only a few minutes after it happened, because the ruckus that the falling cage made, was enough to scare Charlie into hiding.

A couple of weeks ago we noticed that one of our little birds, our Society Finch, had an injured leg. We had no explanation for the injury. He seem to be unharmed and every other way, he just refused to use that one little leg. We could not figure any way that he could be injured other than somehow the cat had got a hold of him. But that didn't make sense either because we are pretty sure that if the cat had got his claws into that bird, it wouldn't have got just the leg.

A few days after we noticed the injury on our little bird, we discovered him hanging upside down from his little nest caught in a very fine fiber which was wrapped securely around his bad leg. As I had seen him fall over the edge and out of his nest he had not had a chance to struggle to try to get free. I reached into the cage and gently freed him. It was then that we began to understand what happened to his little leg. Our little birds love bells! We have some little bells from Christmas that were on a ribbon hanging just outside the cage. These little birds love to grab at the ribbon and ring the bells. They do it steadily all day long. They must love the music that comes from those bells. What we didn't realize was that the ribbon was slowly fraying into invisible threads that were being pulled into the cage. As time went by, pretty soon there was a significant ball of fuzz and it would seem that this ball of fuzz became entangled in our little finches leg. It must have tripped him into panic. Having so many invisible fibers wrapped around his leg he then instinctively would have set out to free himself most likely with his beak. This little bird with a beautiful song pecked and pecked until he was free of those nearly invisible entanglements. He will be forever maimed. And that is so sad and so unfortunate. He will carry the scars of that incident forever. But his little heart is full of music, and he sings just as loudly and just as beautifully as he ever did.

This little bird has reminded me of some of the things that we face in life. Sometimes we do things that are not very good for us, and become entangled in habit or actions or even patterns of thought that slowly wind themselves, almost imperceptibly, about our spirits until before we know it we are securely bound. Sometimes we struggle against those restrictions, casting blame away from ourselves, getting angry or seeking vengeance. This usually causes further harm not only to ourselves but to our families and those around us. However, there is One who we can reach out to at anytime, day or night, who will loosen our bonds. Over time and through our sincere efforts to blend our will with His, we are freed, and completely liberated. Unfortunately, the scars – the consequences – of our actions will forever be with us. But through the atonement and grace of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the pain, remorse, and deep regret we once felt will vanish and will no longer afflict our souls. When this miracle occurs in our lives, we will find that our hearts are filled with song – the song of gratitude and love to our merciful and loving Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. And then we will sing, we will sing our hearts out, in praise, just like my sweet little bird still sings his heart out and shares his joy with all who hear his song.