My mother had a canary that seldom sang. But he loved it when she ran the vacuum cleaner. Mom kept a very clean house, so the canary got plenty of song–time.
Max Lucado told a similar story in his book, In the Eye of the Storm. Another woman had a canary that sang like crazy whenever she vacuumed the rug. One day she was vacuuming, and the bird, “Chirpy,” was singing, as usual. The floor of the birdcage was littered with seed hulls and bird droppings and other unmentionable stuff. So she decided to vacuum that floor too.
As she put the vacuum hose into the cage, the phone rang. Reaching for it, she tilted the nozzle upward, sucking Chirpy into the hose and down into the vacuum cleaner bag. Naturally, Mrs. Chirpy was dismayed that she had endangered her beloved canary’s wellbeing, so she quickly turned off the vacuum, telephone forgotten, and tore open the bag, which was filled with dirt and dust and other unmentionable stuff you find on a floor.
Poor Chirpy was coughing and wheezing and hacking. So his kindly owner rinsed him off, holding him under the faucet, gently washing away the dirt and grime. By now the poor songbird was coughing and wheezing from the dust and glub–glubbing from the water. So she dried him off using her hair dryer.
Finally, the woman put the bedraggled little canary back into his cage. Several days later she got up the nerve to tell her husband what had happened.
“Well, how is he doing?” the man asked.
“He seems to be okay,” she admitted, “but he doesn’t seem to sing much anymore!”
Maybe you relate to the well–meaning but misguided woman—you’ve made one poor decision after another, and each one has taken things from bad to worse; your decisions have hurt others.
Or maybe you relate to the canary, who suffered so much from others’ bad decisions: life has sucked you down into a veritable dirt–bag; then a deluge of problems almost drowned you.nd don’t forget being blasted with a breathtaking quantity of hot air!!!
Maybe you too think,“No wonder I don’t sing much anymore!” Or maybe your bad decisions have hurt your own life.
The new year is a good time to ask God for help to make wise decisions. Ask God to guide you into all truth (John 16:13). With his help, you can be chirpy once again.
*The views expressed in this blog are in no way intended to represent the views of Child Evangelism Fellowship©. They are exclusively the expressed views of Curtis Alexander.
Max Lucado told a similar story in his book, In the Eye of the Storm. Another woman had a canary that sang like crazy whenever she vacuumed the rug. One day she was vacuuming, and the bird, “Chirpy,” was singing, as usual. The floor of the birdcage was littered with seed hulls and bird droppings and other unmentionable stuff. So she decided to vacuum that floor too.
As she put the vacuum hose into the cage, the phone rang. Reaching for it, she tilted the nozzle upward, sucking Chirpy into the hose and down into the vacuum cleaner bag. Naturally, Mrs. Chirpy was dismayed that she had endangered her beloved canary’s wellbeing, so she quickly turned off the vacuum, telephone forgotten, and tore open the bag, which was filled with dirt and dust and other unmentionable stuff you find on a floor.
Poor Chirpy was coughing and wheezing and hacking. So his kindly owner rinsed him off, holding him under the faucet, gently washing away the dirt and grime. By now the poor songbird was coughing and wheezing from the dust and glub–glubbing from the water. So she dried him off using her hair dryer.
Finally, the woman put the bedraggled little canary back into his cage. Several days later she got up the nerve to tell her husband what had happened.
“Well, how is he doing?” the man asked.
“He seems to be okay,” she admitted, “but he doesn’t seem to sing much anymore!”
Maybe you relate to the well–meaning but misguided woman—you’ve made one poor decision after another, and each one has taken things from bad to worse; your decisions have hurt others.
Or maybe you relate to the canary, who suffered so much from others’ bad decisions: life has sucked you down into a veritable dirt–bag; then a deluge of problems almost drowned you.nd don’t forget being blasted with a breathtaking quantity of hot air!!!
Maybe you too think,“No wonder I don’t sing much anymore!” Or maybe your bad decisions have hurt your own life.
The new year is a good time to ask God for help to make wise decisions. Ask God to guide you into all truth (John 16:13). With his help, you can be chirpy once again.
*The views expressed in this blog are in no way intended to represent the views of Child Evangelism Fellowship©. They are exclusively the expressed views of Curtis Alexander.
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