Birds and Ants

I'm sorry I've barely blogged at all this month. September has been filled with school, school, and more school. I'm exhausted. My prayer life has lagged (tremendously, actually. It's sad.). Life has been busy.

But I finally have a moment! Triumph! I'd like to talk to you about ants and birds.

See, I really don't like ants. I really, really don't like ants. I was taking out the trash the other day and stepped into an anthill and got lots of ant bites. I don't like ants.

They're hated, despised, and loathed because they sting, hurt, look creepy, take over lawns, and no matter what you do, you can never get rid of them.

Jeez, that sounds kinda like religion, doesn't it? I mean, without the stinging and hurting bit.

I originally meant to say Christianity, but then I realized that all religions are like that. To the unreligious, the religious are a nuisance, often times. Not always, but think about the average, unreligious American. They hear about God and Allah and Brahma (if they know who Brahma is) and Buddha (especially if they think Buddha is a god), and just start to shut down and start getting their ant protection together.

By contrast, think about birds. Birds are everywhere. They can fly, sing, and eat as much as they want and not have to worry about burning off calories. We can't escape the birds. They're beautiful. We are drawn to the birds.

Jeez, birds sound a lot like the religious, too. But when people hear or see birds, they smile. They want to be around birds. They like birds. The average, unreligious American hears about God and Allah and Brahma and Buddha, and is intrigued. They wonder what could be so great about religion.

Notice I have two average, unreligious Americans, but both of them are the same. What's different is the religious.

Now before you go all "what in the world?!" like you more than likely usually do when reading my posts, just wait a minute. Think about it.

There are some religious people that are birds. People admire birds because they don't intrude. They live and work as breathe and fly and people just like to watch them. Ants, on the other hand, are aggravating. They intrude, attack, and are associated with a total negativity, unless you're an antologist.

Let's be honest. There are some religious people that just talk too much. We love them, Jesus loves them, but religion is not a topic you want to talk to them about.

And then there are some people that you don't even have to talk to and you know they're religious. You know they're good people just by looking at them.

St. Francis of Assisi said," Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words."

As people who love God, we do not want to drive people away from the light of His Love; we want to draw others into it to be an example of what God can do. We do not want to be ants.

Let's be birds.

And yes, because I'm on my iPod and can't get on google images AND blog at the same time, I took a picture of a picture in a book. Tada!