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I have watched this weird phenomenon several times near my home, and it always happens at busy intersections. While waiting at a stop light, I've seen a large flock of birds (maybe pigeons) doing this weird corporate dance in the sky! They seem to fly in the same large square pattern, like the Box Step! It's just amazing to watch. They fly over or near an intersection, and I just wonder if all the traffic is driving them crazy (amen, brother!), and they just take to the sky to fly away their stress! Only they don't fly away, they just keep flying around and around, in the same pattern!
At other times at these same intersections, I see a string of pigeons sitting in a row on the telephone wires...just hangin' out like old guys at the barber shop. No where you gotta go, just hangin' out with friends, watchin' the world go by.
Although I'm not a formal bird watcher (I actually have a prejudice against them for their propensity to poop on people's heads, and a fear of them because they might peck me if I get too close! :-\), what I have seen is that these pigeons seem very communal, very group-oriented. They hang together. True also for migratory birds, as seen in the V-formations of geese.
Psalm 102 is anonymous, but the person who wrote it was very distressed over his enemies and the havoc they were wreaking. And he felt like a bird all alone on a roof. And from what I've observed, birds don't do that. They stick together...strength in numbers, ya know?
That's why the concept of small home groups is so great. It keeps people from being a solitary bird on a roof, feeling alone and overwhelmed by the trials of life. Being a part of a group provides friendship, support, and accountability. If you're struggling with a situation at work, or there's trouble at home, or you just feel like your life is not where it should be, you can share with your small group, and instantly, you're not on the roof alone! They can listen and encourage, providing comfort and wisdom from God's word, and keep you from wasting away in isolated oblivion. God uses small groups to keep us connected, so that we can fly with our friends in formation, or hang out and watch the world go by -- together.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again...people need people. Please don't give in to the temptation to retreat into yourself and hide under the proverbial covers. Become part of a small group through your church...be involved in community living. You'll develop friendships and grow spiritually, as you strive for commitment to God and His purposes.
And the beauty of God's family is that birds of a different feather can flock together! God has an amazing way of linking people together who come from different backgrounds and experiences to bond as family. That's because we're bound together by the same Holy Spirit...
Work hard to live together as one by the help of the Holy Spirit. Then there will be peace. There is one body and one Spirit. There is one hope in which you were called. There is one Lord and one faith and one baptism. There is one God. He is the Father of us all. He is over us all. He is the One working through us all. He is the One living in us all. ~ Ephesians 4:3-6 (NLV)
Are you flocking together, or sitting on the roof by your lonesome? If you feel like a lonesome dove, venture out and get connected to a flock. It's where you need to be...because that's how God made us. For family. For community. For connection. For action.
Love,
Joelene
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