For the past year or more I have been loving anything having to do with birds; bird houses, bird cages, and bird feathers. And hundreds of sparrows have taken up residency in my yard.
Last Saturday, I was driving down the road and I passed a familiar business. It’s an old house with about 100 bird fountains and other yard art (flamingos) that cover every square foot of the front yard. There is a sign facing the street that has two words. The first time I glanced at the sign, I thought it said, “water feathers.”My mind wondered briefly about what water feathers might look like. I thought about pulling over to check them out. Then, just before passing, I realized the sign said, “water features”. That was disappointing.
As I drove, I continued to think about water feathers. I imagined a white feather that glistened in the sunshine. Then I saw a different feather. This one was a pale peach color and glistened slightly less than the first one. It was really beautiful. Then, I heard these words, “peace feathers.” I knew it was the Holy Spirit but I didn’t know what He meant. I felt in my spirit that the blanks would be filled in later. After arriving at my destination I didn’t think much about it again.
Then it was Sunday. At church, James Robison was the guest speaker. He spoke about the Body of Christ. He said, “Don’t just be in church, BE the church.” It’s so easy to get in a routine. The day to day gets away from you. You tell your friends things like, “We should get together soon.” But, before you know it, life happens and Wednesday becomes September and a year passes and you never get together. That family in need is too far away. Your Bible is collecting dust. “Praying” becomes a word you type in Facebook comments. And church becomes another part of your schedule rather than who you ARE!
After church, I was driving to the store. I thought about Jesus and his actual human body. His body here on earth was made up of cells and molecules, just like ours. Then, I had a vision of his spiritual body here on earth. His spiritual body is made of us, THE CHURCH. I had a vision of people gathering together and forming Christ’s body, just like cells and molecules.
I asked The Lord to give me another picture of the Body of Christ and I saw PEACE FEATHERS. They fell into a big fluffy pile of glistening, peach feathers. Then, I heard these words, “A soft place to land.”
We, the body, are called to be a soft place to land! We are not called to help people fit a mold or help them understand how wrong they are. When someone is tired from trying to do life on their own, they should see the church as a soft place to find rest, Grace, forgiveness, wisdom, truth, prayer, and LOVE!
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)
Written by Crissy Terrell
