Vinny sent me this little story. I think it focuses on a very important
message. I am wondering, however, if you notice any aspect of this story
which bothers you. If so, what is it? Just curious.
THE SONGBIRD AND THE FLOWER
by Chip Brogden
http://www.watchman.net/articles/songbird.html
In a land not too far away lived a songbird. According to
outward appearances this songbird was no different than the rest.
She had blue feathers, a white breast, and a yellow bill. But she
also had a very special gift!
Her gift was discovered one day quite by accident. She
enjoyed singing to the Lord and worshipped Him at every
opportunity. It was her custom to wake up early to see the
sunrise and spend time worshipping the Lord. She had done this
every morning since she was a little bird.
Her song carried unusually far one morning. Her neighbor,
the squirrel, was sitting in his little recliner with a cup of
tea, reading the morning newspaper, when suddenly this
magnificent song came wafting through the open window! "I have
to find out where that's coming from!" he exclaimed. Jumping up
out of his chair, he ran through the door and into the field,
looking for the source of the beautiful music.
Also, at that exact moment, a deer was walking through the
woods and heard the same sweet melody. "What singing!" she cried.
"I wonder who it could be?" And she, too, went off to find out
where the music was
coming from.
The songbird, of course, was oblivious to the excitement she
had generated. She was lost in her worship when suddenly the
squirrel arrived on the scene, followed by the deer - and about a
dozen other animals!
"Where did you learn to sing like that?" they all asked with
great admiration.
The songbird shrugged her shoulders. "I always sing like
this whenever I want to give praise to the Lord. I hope I didn't
disturb you."
"Disturb us?" answered the deer. "We think it is wonderful!
How uplifting to hear such beautiful singing early in the
morning. You really have a gift!"
"I do?" asked the songbird.
"Absolutely!" said the squirrel. "God blessed you to bless
others, and you shouldn't let that gift go to waste. You have a
special calling!" And all the other animals agreed.
"I don't want to waste my gift," answered the bird. "What
should I do?"
"Come with us to the church service this morning," said the
deer. "I'll speak to the pastor about you and he'll let you sing
for the congregation!"
The songbird wasn't sure what to do about all this
attention, but she didn't want to waste her gift, and she
certainly wanted to bless others with what she had been blessed
with. So she agreed to go.
Of course, the congregation of animals were blessed by the
singing songbird, and she was such a blessing that they invited
her to sing every Sunday morning. The little group began to grow
as a result of the songbird's beautiful voice. In no time the
songbird became the worship leader. Not only was she responsible
for selecting the music and leading the worship service, but she
was supposed to conduct the choir practice twice a week and teach
voice to the pastor's daughter ( the crow) so she could one day
sing as well as the songbird.
One Sunday morning a group of eagles arrived, listened to
the songbird, and watched her very carefully. After the service,
the eagles gathered around the songbird and began to prophesy!
"The Lord says that you have a special anointing, and He will
give you an international ministry!"
Of course, the songbird was very thrilled about this,
because she wanted to use her gift and she wanted to be a
blessing. Another member of the church, the fox, offered to
record her music and put it on CD. "That way," he explained, "You
can reach more animals and be a blessing to God's creatures all
over the world. This is what the Lord meant when He said He was
giving you an international ministry!"
Before long the CD's were produced, and the fox had promoted
them all over the world. The orders began to come in, and
everyone said they were blessed by the songbird's music. Then came
the invitations! "Is the songbird available to come to our
church?" Everyone wanted their own live performance, and the fox
took care of everything.
"Congratulations!" he told the songbird. "You're booked up
for ministry every week for the next two years, and your CD's are
in record stores all over the world. Now you can be in the
full-time ministry! The Lord has really blessed you!"
So the songbird took her itinerary from the fox and began
flying all over the world to meet the demands of her full-time
ministry schedule. The fox even made her a special backpack so
she could take all her CD's and ministry resources with her and
raise money for her ministry.
The songbird sang in church services, and in retreats, and
in conventions, and in concerts. She truly enjoyed meeting all
the other animals, and she still enjoyed singing. She was getting
a little tired of flapping her wings all the time to get from one
ministry event to the other, and her voice seemed to be losing
some of its former strength and purity from being used all the
time, but she accepted that as part of fulfilling the call on her
life. Besides, no one seemed to notice. Everyone loved her, and
wanted to hear her.
Time went by, and the songbird was becoming more and more
popular. She had a ministry headquarters, a ministry staff, and
ministry partners all over the world. Her next CD was coming out
soon, and everyone was looking forward to it with great
anticipation. She was a busy little songbird, flying all over the
place to keep up with her hectic ministry schedule, but having to
carry around all those CD's and ministry resources on her back
was a constant strain, and she tired easily.
One day she was traveling to her next singing engagement and
found herself flying over a canyon out in the middle of nowhere.
Exhausted from her flight, she decided this would be a good place
to stop and rest her wings for awhile. Far below her she saw a
gorgeous flower of indescribable beauty! So she circled around
the flower and landed right next to it. What a lovely little
flower it was! It had round petals of many colors - yellow, blue,
pink, and white - and golden leaves. She had never seen anything
like it in all her travels around the world. And the fragrance!
It was unlike anything she had ever smelled, and far better than
any perfume she had ever tried. Yet here it was, growing out of a
crack in the bottom of a rocky canyon floor, out in the middle of
nowhere!
"Hello little flower!" the songbird said. "I was just flying
overhead and admiring your beauty, so I thought I would visit
with you for a moment. You are certainly the most beautiful
flower I have ever seen, and I don't think there is another
flower in the world quite like you."
"The Lord has been very gracious to me," answered the flower
pleasantly. "Who are you, and where are you going?"
"I am Rev. Songbird and I'm on my way to minister at a
retreat on the other side of this canyon. Maybe you've listened
to one of my CD's, or seen me on television?"
"No, I don't believe I have," the flower said. "I'm quite
alone out here in the canyon, and I don't have a lot of contact
with the rest of the world. As you can see, I don't have wings to
carry me anywhere."
"That's a shame," said the songbird. "Because you are such a
beautiful flower, and you give off such a lovely aroma. The Lord
has blessed you to be a blessing, yet your gifts are not being
used as they should! Why don't you come along with me to church,
so the other animals can see your beauty and enjoy your
fragrance?"
"Oh no, that would never do," the flower said, "Because that
would only distract me from my own ministry."
"So you are in the ministry? What denomination are you with?"
asked the songbird.
The flower laughed. "I'm not with a denomination.
"Where do you go to church?"
"Oh, I'm not involved with a church, either."
"Do you have some books or tapes out?"
"Heaven's no!" the flower laughed.
"So what kind of ministry do you have, then? Are you in the
ministry full-time, like me?" the songbird asked.
"Oh yes, it is a full-time ministry," answered the flower.
"But you are out here in the wilderness, all alone. There
are no churches, no one to fellowship with. How can you be in the
full-time ministry? It seems like such a waste."
"Oh, but that is where you are wrong," explained the flower.
"You see your ministry as being to the other animals, but my
ministry is to the Lord Himself! He has planted me out here in
the wilderness, hidden from the rest of the world. You believe
that is a waste, since no one can see me or smell me. But He can
see me! And He can smell me! And the measure of my fruitfulness
is not what I am to other people, but what I am to Him."
The songbird was silent for a long time. Finally, she said,
"Creatures all over the world are being blessed and encouraged by
my music. Perhaps you are called to minister to the Lord, but I
am called to minister to the other animals!"
"Who told you that you are called to minister to the other
animals?" asked the flower.
"The Lord!"
"Really?" asked the flower.
The songbird thought about what the squirrel had said, and
what the deer had said, and what the eagles had said, and what
the fox had said, and what all the other animals said. "Well,
just about everyone who has heard me sing has told me that the
Lord has given me a special gift, a special calling, and a
special ministry."
"Yes," agreed the flower. "But all of God's creatures have a
special gift, a special calling, and a special ministry. Who told
you that your gift, calling, and ministry is to the other
animals?"
"I guess the other animals said so."
"Naturally," continued the flower. "But wait! What is that
huge pack on your back?"
"Oh, that is my bag of music CD's and ministry resources. I
carry these with me wherever I go, because this is how my
full-time ministry is supported."
"It looks mighty heavy," observed the flower.
"It is, believe me!" said the songbird. But it's part of
being in the ministry."
"For your ministry, perhaps," said the flower. "It's not
part of my ministry! Ministering to the Lord is not a burden at
all."
(Secretly, the songbird envied the flower, but she couldn't
bring herself to admit it.)
"It does sound good," said the songbird. "But I'm not sure I
even know how to minister to the Lord."
"Do you remember when you used to sing praises to the Lord
in secret every morning, and just worshipped Him for Who He is,
with no agenda or vision or plan or crowd of onlookers to
minister to? Do you remember when you just sang the songs He gave
you, and they were just between you and Him?" the flower asked.
"Yes."
"You were ministering to the Lord! And what was your reward,
when no one could hear you sing, and you were just singing to
Him?"
The songbird thought. "I didn't get any rewards, or
recognition, or applause. So I guess the only reward I had was...
Him?"
"That's right," the flower smiled. "When we minister to the
Lord then the Lord becomes our reward. So then the question
becomes: is Jesus enough for you? Or is the work of the Lord more
important to you than the Lord of the work?"
And the songbird had to admit that she never had time to
just sing to the Lord the way she used to. With all her traveling
and performing she seldom took time to just minister to the Lord,
the way she did before anyone knew how gifted she was. Now the
ministry had become so big that the Lord Himself had been
neglected.
"I see it now," the songbird finally admitted. "I went into
the ministry, but I missed my calling."
"That's what usually happens," said the flower.
The songbird and the flower sat together in silence for a
long time.
"So what do I do now?" the songbird whispered.
"Just go back to the beginning," the flower said. "The Lord
is waiting to meet with you there."
The songbird and the flower embraced, and the songbird flew
back to her nest, leaving the burden of her ministry behind on
the canyon floor. So from that day forward the songbird devoted
herself to ministering to the Lord, just like she used to do. And
the Lord gave her some beautiful new songs to sing - just for
Him.
NOW WHAT?
Ministry to people is important, but it isn't the most
important thing. We know all about ministering to one another -
preaching, teaching, singing, conducting evangelistic crusades
and sending missionaries. All these things are needed, but
learning how to minister to the Lord is the most important
ministry of all because this is the basis for every other kind of
ministry. Sadly, few people know how to do this. Therefore,
ministry to the Lord is on the verge of becoming extinct.
The Lord is looking for people to whom He can reveal
Himself, share His secrets, and make known the mystery of His
ways. But there is no revelation without a relationship.
"Ministering To The Lord" will encourage you to go beyond the
veil and spend more time sitting at His feet in the Secret Place
of the Most High God, where you learn how to be a friend He can
confide in.
Check out "Ministering To The Lord"
http://www.watchman.net/audio/ts108.html
I am your brother,
Chip Brogden
http://www.watchman.net
(c)2004 Watchman.Net.
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The Coil Of The snake
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