The Climb

Funny thing happened at the bird feeder today! I had part of an orange leftover, and the chachalacas (that’s a large Mexican pheasant) were all sitting waiting for something to eat, so I took it out and put it in the feeder. There are about 11 chachalacas now and to be honest, we live in their yard, not the other way around. They come to the window and sit on the deck and in general are very much at home here! So, my feeding them is normal…they come to the door and knock, as the saying goes!

Well, today was different. I had seen a cat earlier creeping up the walk, so putting the food in the deck feeder just wasn’t a good idea. But, they had other ideas and they would not go up to the feeder, they wanted the food on the ground. SO, my great idea was to get something else and put that up in the feeder and maybe they would want that more. 

 

They didn’t go up again!?! As a matter of fact, they started getting a little testy with each other, squawking and basically pouting.

A little bit later I looked out the window and saw two of the older Chachas hop up in the feeder and begin eating the orange. The others didn’t follow…it was just the two of them. After a few minutes, they hopped down and started feeding the crowd around them. And the verse I had read that morning came to mind…

“…the committed climbed with Him. Arriving at a quiet place,

He sat down and taught His climbing companions.”

Matthew 5:2 ~ The Message

The young chachas and the newer ones, didn’t go up to the feeder. It was food, but in a different place and shaped in a different way. It just got me to thinking how much I “miss” with God because it isn’t shaped “just right”.

New heights, new seasons are in life’s journey ~ how beautiful the path for those committed to climbing with Him. There is such treasure here in these words. To be committed to Christ, given over, all in; It speaks of no reservations, no hesitation of the heart. And oh to climb with such a heart!

Our steps do not waiver, no stumbling over our own preconceptions. Climbing speaks of effort, of a gaze set higher than flat earth, reaching for more than is visible to the searching soul.

The sweetest treasure of all is this is where our Saviour sits with us. Just like with the chachas today, God feeds us where it is best for our soul. In the midst of life’s climb, there are quiet places in the journey, places He has set aside to sit and speak Life into the climbers. It is here we are taught, in the expense of our effort, in the climb, there is now space for the inflow of His Word.

For in the climb with Christ, we are not to be porters carrying the baggage of our days, that does make for slippery slopes. Our Lord climbs with us, our burden is Light, and in the climb He calls us His companions!