MARCH 2013 EDITION

We have been having an interesting encounter with wildlife at our house recently. It seems a female cardinal has been attacking our breakfast room window as well as a patio wall ornament.  The thing these two items have in common is they both have reflective surfaces. Apparently, the cardinal is mistaking the reflective images of herself as a threat to her.  She would continue the attacks all day long.  We feared for her safety if this continued.  I solved the patio problem by taping a piece of white paper over the reflective surface. That seemed to do the trick. The breakfast room window was a different story. I tried the same thing that I did with the patio but the bird seemed to find little slivers of reflection where the paper did not cover. Besides, we did not like having our window covered.  So I decided to be tricky by putting a picture of a cat in the window thinking that would frighten her away…no such luck.

What was I to do? It came to me to call the Chattahoochee Nature Center that was located near our home.  The first advice was to cut out a silhouette of a hawk and tape it to the window. Well, I am not that artistic. I called back the next day and spoke with a different person who was very familiar with our problem. She says this frequently happens at this time of year. Female cardinals are breeding and they see their reflection as a threat from another bird: Thus, the attacks. Their wildlife expert recommended that I put Saran wrap on the outside of the window. She explained that a bird's vision is different from ours. She would not be able to distinguish the reflection as another bird.  So far, it seems to be working.

It occurs to me that I can be much like that female cardinal.  I attack what I think I see in other people when really I am attacking a fault that I have within me.  For instance, I can be critical of an acquaintance for being negative and judgmental; when, in reality, I see something in that person that I do not like about myself.  In another case, I may accuse a person of being a poor listener, always responding to my comment with a story about themselves or "one-upping" me with a better story, never acknowledging what I had to say.  When I stop and listen to myself sometimes, I realize that, during the course of the conversation, I monopolized the time talking about myself.  I look back and think how many times I used the words "I' or "Me."  I was always thinking about what I was going to say rather than actively paying attention to what the other person was saying.

The old saying is "When you point your finger at someone, there are three pointing back at you."  Matthew 7:1-5 says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." James 4:12(b) says," But you. Who are you to judge your neighbor?"

Lord, help me to learn a lesson from the cardinal. Put some Saran wrap before my eyes, so that I cannot see what I perceive as faults in others in order that I may more clearly see the faults that lie within me.

Ministry News:

Net Work Ministries is alive and active. We are serving men from all walks of life I many different ways. We conduct a Friday Morning Men's group that has been in existence since 1995. We meet men during the week work breakfast and lunch to minister individually to their needs. We are ministering to some of our nation's heroes through an annual Wounded Warriors Golf Outing, which will be held this year on June 14th at Marietta Country Club.

We are partnering with a ministry in rural Guatemala to help provide food, shelter, employment and education, both practical and spiritual, to the poor of that community.

Your prayer and financial support is needed to help this vital work continue to meet these needs. We are grateful to each of you who have partnered with us throughout the years.