The lazy bird

The king was given two beautiful, colorful birds. He placed them in the garden of his palace, and while one of them flew back and forth and sang beautiful songs, the other one just stayed on a branch and hardly moved at all. The king asked some experts in ornithology to see what he can do to make the other bird move around and chirp his day away. Nothing happened. The king even offered a sum of money to anyone who could somehow move the bird from his branch. Still nothing happened and the bird remained as frozen as an icicle. Finally a farmer showed up and told the king he could easily move the bird. All of a sudden the bird was flying around and singing his merry life away. But before the king gave the money he had promised to the farmer, he asked him what he did to make the bird fly. The farmer said: ‘It was very easy, your Majesty – I just cut off the branch on which he was resting.’ So many of us resemble that lazy bird. We feel comfortable with our easy going life. We commit sin, we hurt other people, we cause pain on the vulnerable, and we stay attached to our life, and to the selfish lifestyle with no desire to change and improve our relationship with the Lord. It’s only when we get dis-attached to our comfort zone that we can really fly, and do wonderful, productive and enriching projects with our lives. It is only when we let go of our old self, that we can discover beautiful ventures ahead of us. Like the lazy bird who shared joy and beauty after he left the branch on which he rested.