Life Lessons from a Cardinal.

I have written about Timothy's pigeons a couple of times. They are interesting birds. I am not really sure what we are going to do with them but yet there they are another addition to my little private petting zoo. Their cage is an a frame that we built out of an old swing set to use as a chicken tractor. We modified it a little bit to make it work for them but for the most part it is the same.  The only picture I have is from when it had chickens in it. As you can see in the picture, there is a metal gate one end that is how we get in and out to feed and water and play with the pigeons.

Last week something new happened though. See we feed the pigeons a mix of chicken food, wild bird seed, and scratch. Plus they have a bird bath in there to play in. Well somehow the cardinals who live in my yard realized they could fit through the gate and go inside the pen to eat and drink. Now for most of the cardinals this is fine. They squeeze through the rungs on the gate, eat, drink, torment the pigeons a bit then squeeze back out. But there is one cardinal. He is very pretty but obviously not so bright. He squeezes in and then once he gets in the pen he panics and can't figure out how to get back out. He flies and flies around in circles inside the pen. He lands and catches his breath. Then he flies and flies around in circles. He has no idea that the way out is simple. It is right there in front of him. Sometimes he even lands on the bar right above the gate his freedom just a couple of inches below him. He calls to his mate from inside the cage. Right now she is on the branch right above him watching him.  I feel so bad for him. When he lands you can see his little heart just pounding. But no matter how often I let him out he keeps going back in.

So I was thinking isn't that kind of the way we are. Getting ourselves into the same old mess over and over. Letting the lure of what looks good, fun, easy keep pulling us back in. Then we get in that situation and we can't figure out how we got there or how to get out. So we go round and round in circles frantic trying to figure out what to do now.

Here is the scary part to me though. He could live there. There is food and water. A place to perch and shelter from the weather. He could spend the rest of his life frantically flying in circles stopping to eat and drink and sleep and then flying in some more circles. Unless he takes the step to slow down and figure out how to get out he could be stuck there in that little cage instead of flying around free getting the most out of life.

I feel like life is like that a lot of times. I get stuck in the situation I am in and I am so busy trying to find a way out I never stop to notice that the answer is simple. I don't get the most out of my life because I am too busy going in circles. So I guess the key is not only to slow down and find a way out but once I get out I need to remember it probably isn't smart to crawl back in again.

Shell