Bushtits

Have you ever heard of a Bushtit? It is a tiny brown and gray bird with a cute little face. They weave a sock-like nest out of spider webs, moss, flower pedals, pollen pods, and who knows what else. A pair of them decided to build a nest right near our front door by a wind chime and the Jasmine that’s growing there. I guess they wanted to have a dinner bell they could ring. If you don’t look closely you will miss the nest altogether, it blends in that well.Living among an amazing variety of birds is one of the joys of living in Don Pedro. The other morning I was sitting on our back deck with a hot cup of tea and in the short time I sat there I counted over twenty different kinds of birds, ranging from a Red-shouldered hawk and Turkey vultures to an Anna’s hummingbird showing of its colors in the morning sun.As cute as Bushtits are, they are also annoying. They seem to have a fetish for pecking at our windows, especially in the wee hours of morning. It was sort of amazing and cute the first couple of times, but now it just plain annoying, so much so I want to tie their little beaks into knots.Isn’t it astounding how cute can turn into annoying so quickly? Think of babies. At first food throwing, saying “No!”,and even doing a poo-poo is worthy of being recorded on video, but before you know it is just plain annoying, frustrating, a bad habit. Think of lovers. How often do cute little quirks turn out to be nothing but annoying bad habits? Think of beauty accompanied by snobbishness, intelligence and arrogance, talent/giftedness and laziness, words and unkindness or lies, love and self-centeredness, wealth/riches and stinginess, power and injustice/abuse, abundance and waste, having a heart and not caring, able but not helping. I am sure you could add to the list, and maybe there are a few beaks you would like to tie into a knot.Some find God, Jesus Christ annoying. Many think Christians are annoying. Few ever consider what annoys God. Generally God/Jesus Christ annoys when there is a clash of values, when the reality of God and Christ is inconvenient to how we want to live, when we dislike the truth and ways of God. Christ clashed (and still clashes) so much so He was ridiculed, despised, rejected, and crucified.Christians seem to invent ever new ways of being annoying. Too often not because of who Jesus is or the veracity of the Scriptures (the Bible) but rather by not being what the Spirit of God enables us to be (Galatians 5:22-23).But what annoys God? There are things He hates (Proverbs 6:16-19, 8:13). Can you imagine bringing mankind into existence and being able to say it is all very good only to watch it pervert itself? How would you feel if you created a people with the capacity to worship only to watch them worship anything but the true and living God? Can you imagine creating men and women in you very image, to be and do good, to love, to be godly, to be holy and then watch them write the kind history we have written? This why we read in God’s Word, “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, …” Romans 1:18 (HCSB).My hope and prayer is that you and I will be as beautiful a people as God has means for us to be, that we will not be living contradictions but rather living examples of what it means to belong to and follow Jesus Christ.To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans