Straining Ahead

The wind is blowing here today. Sometimes little things like that bring an old memory to mind.

Many, many years ago on a very blustery day, I stood looking out my kitchen window. There was an empty field that was home to one very lonely oak tree. I suppose it was a lone refuge to the many birds that flew through this open expanse. On this particular day, I saw a little brown sparrow take off from the tree, heading due east. This little bird was flying and furiously flapping his wings, but going nowhere. Nowhere. He was suspended in midair. And he stayed like that, furiously flapping his wings, for what seemed like an eternity. The wind that day was coming straight out of the east, pushing against the little sparrow, keeping him from moving forward. Finally, the little guy turned, flew with the wind, and was whisked away.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like that's how my life is. I'm going in one direction, and everything around me is going in another. The harder I try to make headway, the more I stand still, or worse, get pushed back. I know where I want to go--I know what I need to do. Unfortunately, it's my own doing that sometimes does me in. Like the sparrow, if I turn and go with the way of the wind (let's be honest, in other words, give up), I won't get to where I want to go. In reality, when the sparrow quit flying against the wind, he ended up somewhere he had not intended on going.

So on a day like today, with the wind reminding me that life's not always easy, I must stay the course. Push ahead. Stand firm. Instead of being like the little sparrow, which I often am, I need to press on.

Even still, there's hope for the sparrow, isn't there?

Why should I feel discouraged,
Why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely
And long for Heav'n and home,
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

I sing because I'm happy,
I sing because I'm free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

"Let not your heart be troubled,"
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth
But one step I may see:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted,
Whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing,
When hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him,
From care He sets me free:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He cares for me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He cares for me.

There's hope for me...and you too!

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14