Ned

My friends at work found this little guy in the vast array of Christmas items that we are getting at the store these days.  He is a Christmas ornament – a bird with wings, but stuck in a tree….

They said that he was just like me – skinny legs, stick-up hair and, of course, the signature scarf.  So I brought him home with me last night.

The things my friends mentioned were obvious similarities.  But as I looked at Ned (his new name), I recognized many more things that he and I have in common.

Ned’s wings are much bigger than he is – completely out of proportion, but ready for action.  Ned, however, has never left the tree that he perches in each year to use those wings and fly. Maybe he’s afraid to leave the comfort of what he knows.  Fearful of “branching out” (pun completely intended)…

I can sense that in my own life.  God has been working on my wings and I feel like I’m on the edge of my comfortable “nest”, wings ready, but heart afraid to jump out and fly.

And look at what Ned is holding in his outstretched wing.  A star.  A sign of hope and motivation.

My new wings will be stretched to the sky, too.  To the maker of the stars.  Jesus.  My hope and motivation.  The One who created these wings and will show me how to use them and who will promise to catch me if I fall.

I named this little guy NED to remind me of what my heart will cling to every time that fear raises its ugly head to tell me that I can’t fly.  That my wings don’t really work.  That I should just sit in my tree and not try.  NED – Need (You) Every Day.  My heart must depend on Jesus every minute of every day for these wings to work at all.

Jesus, as new opportunities present themselves, as you show me what I am to do next, please strengthen my new wings, teach me to trust You to help me fly.  My heart is prone to want to stay safe in my “tree” of familiarity and comfort and safety.  Give me the courage to jump into the great unknown with both wings pointed towards You and to experience the thrill of leaving my perch and doing what I was made to do.  May “NED” be the song that I sing as I fly…

Isaiah 40:31 – Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. 

Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Ephesians 3:20 – Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us….