Foul

Birds are filthy animals. I’ve heard it said and I’ve experienced it first-hand. When we had birds in the house they could make a mess. It didn’t matter how big their cage was or how often you cleaned it out, seed hulls and feathers can fly a good distance and the dust of them can settle on anything.

I remember laughing when a friend threatened her husband if he did not keep his turkey from her porch! Another friend was found mowing when the grass wasn’t even high. The idea that he just enjoyed his new mower was debunked when I found out how large a mess in his yard those pretty flocks of geese would leave.

Recently the issue has come closer to home. The continual battle with the chickens has angered me, frustrated me, tested me and worn me down. Finally, I’ve seen how God can use things like this to show us our own faults.

One of our roosters is a gimp. Because of his own pride he has caused an act of humility to be brought upon him that has caused a hitch in his get-along. No longer is he the agile fighter and protector of the flock, but in his weakness, he has become stronger in his voice. This is where a whole new battle of self-control has come in to play for me. The continual crowing, and the lack of his ability has brought to mind the similarities between this bird and myself. God can do that you know. He has a sense of humor. As angry as I may get at that rooster for crowing in what I deem access, I find myself empathizing with him. Yep, I too have a hitch in my get-along. I too am older and slower, bolder and more focused on my purpose and I too care less about the state of things than the calling of my voice.

One way I do not desire to connect with that rooster, beside the annoying, is the dub of being “foul”. Birds are called “fowl”, but they can defiantly fill the definition of foul.

Each time we slay a bad fruit in effort to solidify the exuding of a good fruit, another bad fruit comes to attention and although I’ve done a good work on the removal of much foulness, there are still trailing of the crumbs that qualify as foul and need to be swept up and tossed into the fire. Learning what defines gossip, slander, and crude joking was a true eye opener. This world is a festering sore that has plenty of germs for those infections, but the Holy Spirit is a great and powerful salve.

This week, that rooster has shown me the foulness of angry outbursts. It seems that roosters don’t just crow as the sun comes up, they crow prior to the sun coming up if they so desire. My anger at pre-dawn crowing was thwarted at the realization of the fact that he just does what he’s created to do. I couldn’t very well chase him off the porch empathizing with his lack of ability to escape my broom! And truthfully, the foul thoughts that were in my mind are not fruitful for the Spirit inside me that I so long for others to see. Self-control is removal of all things that are displeasing, foul, to the Lord.

Whatever God uses to get my attention I will be grateful for…even the foul of the fowl that continue to multiply on our farm. God is in the good and the bad. He brings rain on the righteous and the wicked. He is a god of power and justice, and I choose to be made clean through the blood of Christ, therefore I will not shy away from His “broom” and welcome it with conviction and faith, knowing that His grace will help me grow to be more like Jesus and THAT is what my greatest desire has become. Purging the bad, feeding the good!

Galatians 5:25 “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”