The few moments of violent winds in a summer storm thrashing branches in wide arches across the lawn left a baby cardinal dashed and sprawled upon the concrete walkway. It was the family’s second unsuccessful attempt to raise a family in what appeared to be a safe place. Sadly I looked at what could have been a bright dashing color swooping across the yard. Instead I saw a rather ugly, cold, partially feathered, big mouthed, blob of gray matter. Would I have cared so much for the loss if it had been an English sparrow, whose presence sometimes seems like flying mice? Do I only care for beautiful things and give not a second thought to the plain? Do we not fuss more over the beautiful, successful people in our midst than the ordinary? Do the children with big blue eyes and long lashes not get more attention than the brown-eyed child whose eyes are just a bit too far apart?
Apparently our insensitivity to the ordinary is not new. In James 2 we read, “If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, ‘Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house.’ and either ignore the street person or say, ‘Better sit here in the back row,’ haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?”
I guess nothing much changes. What is amazing is so often the real treasures in our midst come in plain wrappers. We just need to pay better attention.
Written by Roger Bothwell on June 27, 2008
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574