鈥淐hickadees are very curious.聽See if one will come to you.鈥�
Heeding Sara鈥檚 suggestion, I put my hand out, palm up, and waited.聽Within a few seconds, a little bird landed on a nearby branch, cocked his head and looked at me.聽
Then, in a move so quick that you could hardly anticipate it, he jumped off the branch, flew over and landed on my hand.聽He was only there for a second or two, but those few seconds have stayed in my mind for weeks.
Here is the thing that I keep thinking about: I could not have forced that encounter.聽Calling that bird in would not have worked.聽Chasing it through the trees would have only scared it off.聽Once the bird landed on my hand, it was only there as long as it wanted to be.聽
I could not have caught it or kept it if I had tried.聽In fact, any effort on my part to make that circumstance happen would have meant that it would not have happened at all.
Some things only come to you because you are open to receiving them.
We live in a time that emphasizes our ability to control things.聽鈥淟ive life to its fullest鈥� and 鈥淕o after what you want鈥� are the mottos that dominate our thinking.聽
We are trained to ask, 鈥淲hat will make me happy?鈥� and then we structure our lives around the acquisition of whatever we think will satisfy us.
Sadly, though, the more I watch people living their 鈥渂est life,鈥� the more convinced I am that your best life is not in your control.聽
The Book of Ecclesiastes says, 鈥淭here is a time for everything, and a season for every activity鈥� (3:1), and then it goes on to list things like birth and death, planting and harvesting, tearing down and building.聽In other words, it is not all building, harvest or birth.聽
God is going to take us through both good and bad.聽Therefore, happiness is not just about making our dreams come true.聽Rather, it is found by giving up our need to control everything and learning to find God鈥檚 presence in all of life鈥檚 circumstances.
The best things in life are not acquired by grasping at them.聽
Those blessings come only to those who quietly, but expectantly, hold their hands open and wait.
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