Vol. 17 No. 11 | March 17, 2014
Listen and I will tell you a story. There was once a turkey who saw his reflection in a truck bumper.
In the quiet of the morning a minister went upstairs to his desk to study. As he pondered the Scripture he was reading he leaned back in his chair, took another sip of coffee and looked out the window. Below him and across the street he noticed a turkey in his neighbor’s driveway. The turkey was looking at his reflection in the bumper of the neighbor’s truck. The minister grabbed his iPhone and his camera and began recording the scene.
At times the turkey seemed to be admiring himself. At times he seemed to be angry with the turkey in the bumper. At times he seemed to be aggressively attacking the rival turkey in an effort to scare him away.
At first he looked at his reflection in the bumper and pecked it. The minister could hear the pinging on the bumper from across and above the street. Occasionally he would move in super slow motion as if to sneak up on the strange bird. Then, at times he would back away, look around as if in deep thought and shake his head as if to say, “What am I doing?” After pondering the situation he would slowly move his face right up to the bumper staring at the strange bird who looked a lot like him. For minutes at a time he would stand completely still and motionless beak to beak with the turkey in the bumper.
This went on for hours until another automobile pulled into the driveway driving him away. Cars passed up and down the street throughout the morning, but the bumper-pecking bird would not be deterred from his pursuit of himself.
On one occasion his friends gathered around him as if to offer their assistance. He wanted no part of it. With feathers ruffled and beak cocked and ready to fire he made it clear, “This is my bumper and my space.” They quietly walked away scratching in the dirt and gobbling to themselves.
So it is with the Kingdom of God. Sometimes we act like the turkey mesmerized by his own reflection.
Some churches and some Christians get so focused on their own identity that they fail to realize how foolish they appear to those observing their actions.
Some churches and some Christians love the inward focus so much that we fail to see the danger that may be lurking around us.
Some churches and some Christians spend so much time and energy satisfying their own desires and needs with little notice of the time that has been wasted and how many people have been neglected and ignored.
What may be humorous to watch with a turkey is tragic with churches and Christians.
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:1-4, NIV)
Are you listening? Really listening?
Tom
© Copyright 2014 Tom Norvell. All rights reserved.