The random thoughts of a Christian parrot
During the Winter, a cock pheasant appeared in the garden, outside my window, pecking up the bird food that had fallen from the feeders. Soon, he started to bring his friends along. As the weeks passed, more and more pheasants joined him until there were five boys and twenty girls. There must have been every pheasant from the entire neighbourhood coming into the garden. And from the boys’ point-of-view, it was the perfect ratio; one boy to five girls. For a time, everything was harmonious. But then cometh the Spring, and the hormones started to kick in. One of the male pheasants, -the largest and most aggressive of them all, -started to chase the other four boys away. He wanted all of the food and the twenty girls to himself. Even by the standards of Henry viii, Idi Amin and Rasputin, he does come across as being extremely greedy.
Sometimes we don’t know what is really good for us. Some of us place self-interest and power over and above everything else. We turn into dictators. And as history has shown, most dictators will fall from grace and come to an untimely end. Just think of Nicolae Ceausescu, Saddam Hussein, Colonel Gaddafi, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler and countless others. I’m sure that by the end of the Summer, this particular pheasant (that I am calling “Sir Prancelot”) will be completely and utterly exhausted. Probably with half his feathers missing, a bent tail, and struggling around on a pair of crutches.
Sometimes we can all be tempted to bite off more than we can chew. As the old saying goes, we need “moderation in all things.”
The Bible tells us to: “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” (Luke 12:15). Because true love …. “is not proud…it is not self-seeking.” (1Corinthians 13: 4-5 ). Indeed, “selfish ambition” is described as part of a sinful nature (Galatians 5:19-20).
I’m sure that by the time the Autumn comes, Sir Prancelot’s hormones will have subsided, and he will reform his ways. He will invite his friends into the garden again, and harmony will be restored. Because it is never too late for us to change our ways. Or, as the Bible puts it, to repent. We all make mistakes in life. We all get things terribly wrong from time to time. But the million-dollar question is whether we then go on to recognize the error of our ways and to change for the better.
The book of Revelation tells sinners: “Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” (Revelation 2:5) A very apt message for Sir Prancelot and for all of the Sir Prancelots of this world!
