FOODFORTHOUGHT

* By J. R. Miller
** By Frederick William Faber


There is a fable about the way birds first got their wings. The
story goes that initially they were made without them. Then God made
the wings, set them down before the wingless birds, and said to them,
"Take up these burdens and carry them."

The birds had sweet voices for singing, and lovely feathers
that glistened in the sunshine, but they could not soar in the air.
When asked to pick up the burdens that lay at their feet, they
hesitated at first. Yet soon they obeyed, picked up the wings with
their beaks, and set them on their shoulders to carry them.

For a short time the load seemed heavy and difficult to bear,
but soon, as they continued to carry the burden and to fold the wings
over their hearts, the wings grew attached to their little bodies.
They quickly discovered how to use them and were lifted by the wings
high into the air. The weights had become wings.

This is a parable for us. We are the wingless birds, and our
duties and tasks are the wings God uses to lift us up and carry us
heavenward. We look at our burdens and heavy loads, and try to run
from them, but if we will carry them and tie them to our hearts, they
will become wings. And on them we can then rise and soar toward God.

There is no burden so heavy that when lifted cheerfully with
love in our hearts will not become a blessing to us. God intends for
our tasks to be our helpers; to refuse to bend our shoulders to carry
a load is to miss the new opportunity for growth.

No matter how overwhelming, any burden God has lovingly placed
with His own hands on our shoulders is a blessing. **

PRAYER
"Lord God, have mercy on your people and heal the divisions in the body of Christ. May all Christian people throughout the world attain the unity for which Jesus prayed on the eve of his sacrifice. Renew in us the power of the Spirit that we may be a sign of that unity and a means of its growth. Increase in us a fervent love for all our brothers and sisters in Christ."

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