I just heard this story for the first time a few weeks ago, and I think it's not only worth sharing, but it's worth expanding on a bit as there's some really awesome truth in here.
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold; the bird froze up and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.
A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him!
The morals of this story are:
Not everyone who drops crap on you is your enemy.
Not everyone who gets you out of crap is your friend.
And when you're in crap over your head, keep your mouth shut!
I certainly know how it feels to be in the situation of every animal described in this story. I've very often been the bird itself, a sufferer of incredibly unfortunate and seemingly unforgiving events. I've also been the cow and dropped people in crap big time. There are also unfortunate times when I've been the cat.
The first point - not everyone who drops crap on you is your enemy - is very, very true although it's not always easy to see it that way. I see this statement in regards to how the military is run, and I'm sure the friends I have who have served in the Armed Forces will agree with me. Your sergeant drops you in crap - big time. He is hard on you and it's all for the purpose of completely breaking you down. Which hurts like crazy. But he's not your enemy. He's doing this because once you've been completely broken down and destroyed, they want to build you up into the man that they want you to be. God often treats people the same way. I've been lead into some absolutely rotten circumstances over the past few years and the only reason I can say that I've been there, is because God has lead me there. But He's not my enemy even though sometimes it really does feel like it. Sometimes dropping someone in the crap can be the best thing that you can ever possibly do for them.
The second point, is also true. There are people out there who will never tell you that you're wrong (even when you quite obviously are), will always rescue you even when you need to face the consequences of your own actions and will agree with every single thing that you say. These people are often referred to as "yes" men. Though they can seem to be comforting at times, in reality they are the strongest antithesis to spiritual and emotional growth. If someone has severe issues in their heart and is refusing to face them, mollycoddling them and telling them that "everything is ok, it's all everyone else's fault" or some rubbish like that isn't going to help them. It's just going to keep them holding onto their issues at all costs because they don't have to face them knowing that they've got someone around them who will always help them escape from their issues.
I fully agree with the statement "nice guys finish last". Sorry to all of you Sensitive New Age Guy types out there, but it's true. God is loving - but He's by no means "nice". A friend told me that in 2006 and I've never forgotten it, as it just continually reveals itself to be true. Some of the best people I know in my life - the people I feel safest around and would trust with my life - are far from being "nice" people. They are strong, honest, grumpy, whatever you want to call it - but they call a spade a spade. I know that if they drop me in crap, it's because they give a crap about me in the first place. I also know that if they refuse to rescue me from my crap - it's for the same reason. They know I'll learn more if I fight through it myself. God is not "nice" by any means. If He was "nice" He wouldn't have allowed Jesus to die a brutal death on a cross so that others could live.
The last point is the one I will quite openly admit that I struggle with the most - keeping your mouth shut while in deep crap. However, there is an interesting side to this issue. There are times in deep crap when you really do need to talk, as people can have very valuable advice and insight which can really help you either get out from what you're facing (if you're meant to of course) or show you how to get through it by changing your heart and belief systems while in the crap. But it's also very easy to speak to the wrong people and tell them too much, thus opening yourself up to the wrong advice which does nothing in the end but frustrate you and them. Not to say that the so-called "wrong" people mean you any harm - they always want to help. But when in deep pain you need to learn who you can really trust to listen to the Holy Spirit to give you the advice that you need.
It's hard being in this situation, not to mention isolating. When you are in deep pain, as I've been over the past few years with all of the horrible things that have happened to me, you become as insane as a bag full of wet cats. You can very quickly explode and pour yourself out to the wrong people who although they mean well, leave you with a whole lot of advice that just makes things worse. I've made the mistake in the past of sharing too much with the wrong people who have later used what I've shared with them as a weapon when I quite rightly called them out on something that they were doing wrong. It's not something I'll do again. The best suggestion I have when facing pain that is causing you to want to act like this is to not only press into God for yourself and to ask for the right words, but also to ask Him for the right people to speak the right words into your situation.
Job is a good example - his friends really loved him and wanted to help but they couldn't grasp why he was going through what he was going through, and threw out ideas that in other scenarios may have been appropriate but in this particular one, they just didn't make sense and made Job feel even more alone and his friends powerless to help him. He wasn't in terrible pain because of anything He had done but because that was where God wanted him at that given moment in time. But in the end, God came through and I'm willing to bet that not only did Job learn something, but his friends also learned something as well that it's more important to seek God for yourself for answers rather than just throwing answers at someone and hoping that they stick as they seemed to do with Job.
In conclusion - read this story. Remember it next time you find yourself in crap and ask yourself who your real friends really are - you may be surprised.Take care.
