Tag Team Lives

It has been established that grilling cannot be done in the Gallagher house.
It cannot be done until the baby birds in a nest are able to fly away on their own.
That nest is perfectly built and strategically placed inside our grill.
How anyone can say they don’t believe in God after seeing this miracle is beyond me.

I have been watching the baby birds’ growth each day.
They went from pink skinned with eye buds to feathers with wings in a week’s time.
I have not touched the nest but I have opened the lid of the grill each day to see their progress.
Watching the mother bird has been sheer pleasure as I am at my kitchen sink.

She sings loudly before she approaches the nest.
She approaches cautiously as she hops along below the railing.
There is one post on the railing that she likes to sit on; the one nearest her nest.
There is usually a worm or insect in her mouth to feed her babies.

She is diligent.
She is faithful.
She is industrious.
She is protective.

She looks like a watchman on the wall.
She stands guard like a sentry.
She has a job to do and she does it.
Her babies are thriving.

My youngest daughter commented on the brilliance of the nest’s location.
No predators could ever open the lid of the grill.
The mother bird reminds me of Houdini in the way she gets inside the grill to feed her babies.
I have seen the mother bird fly after other birds who get too close to her nest.

Just the other day, I began to see two birds.
The second bird was not confronted for being too close to the nest.
In fact, the mother bird seemed to prefer having this second bird nearby.
The second bird was a bit fatter than the mother bird.

I decided that this must be the father bird.
I am not an ornithologist but I have enjoyed studying the behavior of these two birds.
There is such teamwork.
Each bird has a role to play.

I see a watchman on the wall but now it is the father bird who stands guard.
His chest is puffed up.
He is constantly watching, turning his head back and forth.
The mother bird will come hopping along the railing with a worm in her mouth.

She does her amazing feat of getting inside the grill.
The father bird stands guard.
I noticed that he had a worm in his mouth, too.
The baby birds are getting bigger and his help seems to be necessary.

It is almost as if the birds are running a tag team.
The baby birds are being fed cooperatively.
They are both providing the food to feed them.
I am witnessing teamwork in action.

I just heard someone use that expression to describe the busyness of their life.
I feel like we’re running tag team to get everything done and everyone where they need to be.
However, the tag team this set of parents are running is exhausting them.
Unlike the birds, who seem to run tag team to make efficient use of time, this was different.

The tag team the parents described was one of survival.
It was a tag team to keep their head above water.
It was a tag team so that they would not drown in their busyness.
It was a tag team that resembled a hamster wheel, running in circles but not getting anywhere.

Tag team usually pertains to a pair of wrestlers who fight as a team.
The wrestlers take the ring alternately.
One team member cannot enter the ring until touched or tagged by the one leaving.
The birds that I watch each day are a perfect example of that definition.

The parents; however, used the same term but meant something totally different.
They went on to say that they are like two ships passing in the night.
They admitted that they text each other more than they talk to each other.
They are really living parallel lives as they try to accomplish all the things they need to do.

Funny thing is, they know it.
Deep in their heart, they know it.
Like the hamster who runs around and around on a wheel, they do not know how to stop.
They are in this lifestyle too deeply to begin to change now.

There is a price.
Parallel lines never meet.
They run in the same direction but they do not run together.
It is like being on two floors of a building with no staircase to connect you.

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because, so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
(Mark 6:30,31)

Parallel lives are lived by many in today’s culture.
There is a feeling of accomplishment when we get so much done.
There is a feeling of  success when we can keep our many plates in the air.
At what price?

We must be intentional and stop living parallel lives.
Going in so many different directions can cause our lives to become perpendicular.
At least, perpendicular lives intersect.
Let the place of intersection be the Cross, the shape of the lines themselves.

Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.
Jesus knew that rest was important for His apostles.
Don’t you think it is important for us as well?
Why do we run around endlessly until we are utterly exhausted?

Parallel lives are two ships passing in the night.
Perpendicular lives intersect at a single point.
That single point must be the Cross.
The Cross puts everything in perspective.

Try to avoid parallel lives.
Parallel lives leave you exhausted.
Tag team if you must but tag team perpendicularly.
Intersect at the Cross, come to Jesus and get some much needed rest.

Slow down.
Get off the hamster wheel.
Going to a quiet place and getting some rest is so important.
Jesus says so.