When Birds Speak.

I spent this past Saturday at my friend Mathew's house in the suburbs. Four of my good friends, lots of homework and lots of food. It was a good time.

But see, Mathew's parents have this bird. Not just any bird, either. A parrot. You know, the kind that you can teach to speak (I'm still at a loss as to why you would want a pet that can talk back). They've taught it phrases like "Peek-a-Boo" and "Take a bath". Kinda cool, I'll be honest.

Those of you who know me well know that I don't really like animals. I mean, I like them like in pictures and zoos and stuff. But not up in my space and definitely not on me. So the bird was great in comparison to other pets since she was in a cage most of the time. But then, as I was getting ready to leave, they took her out of her cage. My eyes widened and I began gathering my things more quickly. When Mat's mom took her out, she sat on her shoulder calmly; Mat's mom even moved her back and forth from the cage to her hand and back many times. She just sat there.

"Aren't you scared she going to fly away one of these days," I asked. "I bet you never open that window."

"No," Mat's dad this time. "Se doesn't know she can fly. Even though she's wing-clipped, she could if she wanted to. If she did, then we'd never be able to let her out of her cage; but as it is, she loves her cage. She gets the most afraid when you take her out."

"Really," I replied. "She's never flown before?"

"Well, one time she flew from her cage to the floor," Mat's mom said. "But she just sat there wondering what just happened. No, she thinks she's a dog. She fluffs her wings and stretches them, but has no idea what they are for."

Shortly after, I left. Alone in my car, I cried. Not because I was leaving, not because I still had hours of homework head of me. But because that's us, friends. That's us.

We've been caged by our sin so long that we've forgotten that freedom was intended to be ours. We've sat for so long with iron bars of pride, gates of lust and bolts of selfishness that we have no idea that there is still another way to live. We sit hunched over on the thin perch of self-indulgence; the smallest comfort, the shortest pleasure that comes from giving in. Again.

We're wing-clipped by sin at birth, and as a result we will never be fully alive. But there is Life made available to us, nonetheless. "The Son of God became the Son of Man so that the sons of man could become the sons of God." We've been lifted gloriously to the top of the cage, no longer in bondage. No longer enslaved. Free.

But oh...how we love our cage.

We stretch out our wings to the Lord and say, "Heal us."

And He looks at us with empathy and says, "I have."

Do I believe that today? Do you? Do we know we can fly? Do we know we are free?

"It is for freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1