The Scary Flutter in the Dark--When You Feel Trapped

One evening last week, after dark, it had cooled off just enough that Jonathan and I slipped up to the deserted pool and mailbox building to check our mail and dip our feet into the pool.

I went into the open ladies room only to hear a strange noise.

I gave a little screech and before you could say, "What is the matter?" I was back outside, shaking in my boots--well, in my sandals,

although, come to think of it, I may have been barefoot at that point.  

And strange noises are especially scary when you are barefoot. 

My dear, brave husband (since no one was around) fearlessly entered the ladies room, turning on the light.

And that's when we discovered a bird, probably a baby one, fluttering from one rafter to the others, unable to find a way out of the building.

I wondered how long it had been in there. 

Poor thing!

It landed near the sink, and did not seem to be afraid as Jonathan slowly reached out and caught it, gently setting it on his arm. 

There it sat, tired and wondering, like we feel sometimes, caught in the dark of circumstances that we don't understand and situations that we cannot control.  

There it sat, as we do sometimes, having fruitlessly beaten our wings against every imaginable wall and window and rafter--only to remain trapped.

Slowly and gently, Jonathan crept toward the door. 

Please, little bird, just stay perched on his arm!

Just stay there! Don't keep beating your wings and fighting the rafters. Hang tight! Liberty is about to come if you will only be still and trust the hand that caught you!

It sat still.

Silent and wondering, the little bird sat there, and then it saw the outside. It beat its wings--and flew into the rafters of the patio!

Oh, no! Little bird--the sky is just around the corner. 

Can't you see it? 

Then the little bird flew down from the rafters and away it went, out from under the patio roof and into the starry sky--as soar our spirits when we realize that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
No wall, no rafter, no glass window, no broken wing, no pain, no grief, no chains.

Liberty had come at last.

The little bird had trusted the hand that held it; it had seen the starry sky, and it had taken wing.