An Interlude With a Message

Several years ago, on a cold, drizzly morning, I was working in my office, when I heard a strange noise in the chimney. After several minutes, my wife heard it too and thought it might be a bird or a squirrel. I realized it was a bird and that it was trapped, so I opened the damper, and in a few minutes, the bird made his appearance on the hearth.

I walked over to pick it up, but it flew toward the window. Fortunately, it got into a corner and I was able to gently grasp it. As I held the tiny bird in my hands, its little heart was thumping at about 400 beats a minute. I took it outside to the balcony and, for fear it might be hurt and unable to fly, I set it on the rail. It instantly took off and flew down to the fence.

Now, please understand that I know this didn’t really happen, but it seemed as if the tiny bird turned, looked up to me and nodded its little head to say, “Thank you.” It was a little vignette in my life, but I felt a sense of kinship and complete exhilaration as I watched that beautiful bird fly off and alight in a tree. He was free!

Freedom is priceless, and I can only imagine how the alcoholic must feel when he’s freed from the curse of drink, or the drug addict who escapes from the hell of addiction, or the gambling addict who has at last been able to overcome the problem. Freedom equates to being in control of your life, like the little bird, and it is beyond literary expression. But it does exist, and we can experience it.

My faith set me free, and I’ve been able to be like the little bird, flying ever since. See you at the top!

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