StriperAddict
Senior Member
From FB, John Lynch:
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Woodpeckers live in Phoenix. Apparently, over ten varieties.
I’ve heard them often, over the last thirty-five years here in our neighborhood. I’m surprised woodpeckers would live in the desert.
Then again, I’m surprised I live here too.
Phoenix woodpeckers apparently aren’t very selective about what surface they slam their beaks into. It might be the heat.
From our patio, we hear them jackhammering into the hard plastic which encases a telephone pole out in the alley.
You read correctly.
Hard plastic.
It can’t be satisfying, purposeful or even safe. It has to hurt. There’s no give. And it’s not like there aren’t telephone poles in the area without the plastic casing.And it’s not just one heart-stricken woodpecker. The average lifespan of a woodpecker is about seven years. That means this behavior has passed down many generations during my watch!
There are studies suggesting woodpeckers are trying to make loud noises in order to find a mate. But you know what also makes a nice, loud sound? Wood! It has worked to perpetuate their species for a long time.
Apparently, woodpeckers can just keep doing the same foolish thing, over and over, even if it is painful, noisy and ineffective.
We, who have placed our faith in God, get to live differently.
We have His very life surging through our veins. New, effective ways of seeing already exist and are being revealed every moment. We don’t have to act out of generational traditions, habits or misguided, foolish and failed patterns.
And yet, many of us continue the same futile, noisy approaches in many areas of our lives.
We see it in everything from parenting methods to golf swing thoughts.
Anything that depends upon ought, repeated lectures, lists, or self-reliance is just a hard plastic application of Law. No matter how many times they are tried, it just never achieves anything life-giving.
Grace gives us another way.
We can be protected in our weaknesses. We can protect others in theirs. We can admit our limitations and learn to lay up in front of the lake.
My friends, we are not woodpeckers.
We are new creatures.
From ...---------------------------------------
Woodpeckers live in Phoenix. Apparently, over ten varieties.
I’ve heard them often, over the last thirty-five years here in our neighborhood. I’m surprised woodpeckers would live in the desert.
Then again, I’m surprised I live here too.
Phoenix woodpeckers apparently aren’t very selective about what surface they slam their beaks into. It might be the heat.
From our patio, we hear them jackhammering into the hard plastic which encases a telephone pole out in the alley.
You read correctly.
Hard plastic.
It can’t be satisfying, purposeful or even safe. It has to hurt. There’s no give. And it’s not like there aren’t telephone poles in the area without the plastic casing.And it’s not just one heart-stricken woodpecker. The average lifespan of a woodpecker is about seven years. That means this behavior has passed down many generations during my watch!
There are studies suggesting woodpeckers are trying to make loud noises in order to find a mate. But you know what also makes a nice, loud sound? Wood! It has worked to perpetuate their species for a long time.
Apparently, woodpeckers can just keep doing the same foolish thing, over and over, even if it is painful, noisy and ineffective.
We, who have placed our faith in God, get to live differently.
We have His very life surging through our veins. New, effective ways of seeing already exist and are being revealed every moment. We don’t have to act out of generational traditions, habits or misguided, foolish and failed patterns.
And yet, many of us continue the same futile, noisy approaches in many areas of our lives.
We see it in everything from parenting methods to golf swing thoughts.
- If telling Stacey, in an annoyed voice, that she forgot to turn off the stove actually helped, don’t you think it would have by now?
- If telling myself, in an annoyed voice, that I should not be so fragile actually helped, don’t you think it would have by now?
- If preachers saying, “We need to be better” did anything, don’t you think it would have shown up in someone by now?
- If telling myself that I can hit a golf ball two hundred yards over water with my three iron actually worked, don’t you think I would have done it at least once by now?
Anything that depends upon ought, repeated lectures, lists, or self-reliance is just a hard plastic application of Law. No matter how many times they are tried, it just never achieves anything life-giving.
Grace gives us another way.
We can be protected in our weaknesses. We can protect others in theirs. We can admit our limitations and learn to lay up in front of the lake.
My friends, we are not woodpeckers.
We are new creatures.
