I’m Free!

Sometimes freedom doesn’t deliver all that’s promised.

Yesterday a neighbor’s parrot escaped. It landed in a tree a couple of houses away. They spent hours calling to it and trying to lure it back to its cage. Several times it took off and made a big circle before it went back to the tree. They finally gave up when it was too dark to see. All I could think is how to the bird, its new freedom must have seemed much better than living in a cage.

This morning as I was sitting on the porch, I heard its squawk and off flew the green blur. It must have spent the night in the tree. I didn’t hear any more sounds after that.

What the bird doesn’t understand is that its new freedom may become its destruction. Lack of food, predators or cold weather may bring a quick end to the fun.

We can be the same as the bird. We run after all kinds of things that promise pleasure and fun but the price is much more than we bargained for. Sometimes it is stubbornness and sometimes ignorance that put us in harms way.

A couple things that can protect us are friends who are not afraid to tell us the truth and fluency in God’s word. If we submit ourselves to these, it will go a long way in keeping us from being deceived by the false “freedoms” that are always calling and offering empty and dangerous promises. Sometimes our “cage” may be the safest place to be.

Philip