What an interesting bird!

Okay, so I've being thinking a lot about the expression, "He/She is an interesting bird." I've started saying it quite a bit lately and it literally came out of nowhere. I don't know if it is something I learned from my precious mother, the southern queen bee of silly expressions, or a movie, or an "interesting bird" of a friend, or created it myself, however, I think I would be proud of myself if I did create that phrase and would definitely take the credit for its brilliance. Anyway, I was thinking about what it means... I know it has been used in gossip when one is talking about another person dissapprovingly. I must admit I'm pretty confident that I have referred to someone using that phrase but not with kindness in my heart... therefore I'm confessing it to you now. But again, as I examined the phrase I thought to myself, "I think I would like to be called an interesting bird." If I use the phrase like I believe it has been used in the past it must mean that I am set apart. I am outside the social norm. I must not worry about what people think of me. I must not submit to the temptations and materials that this world has pushed upon me. I must have my hope set on something greater... Wow... WOW!!!... and then I got to thinking about Matthew 6:25-27.

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value then they?"

Ahh... anxiety... how you control my emotions sometimes. I sometimes wonder how much time I spend worrying about silly things... worldly things... I don't know about you but growing up a girl is hard (I'm not discounting the difficultly of life as a male but I can only give a woman's perspective on life and believe me it is hard). We take ourselves so seriously and tend to lean on the world to tell us what is cool and what is chic. We tend to measure our value by how others perceive us. For instance, right now, being the nonwriter that I am, is nervous about clicking the publish post button at the bottom of this page afraid of what people will think of what I have to say. See how I'm worrying about silly things... worldly things. Like Matthew 6:26 says, "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap not gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them." I'm going to change a few words and see what happens. Look at the girl over there: she neither conforms nor allows the world to tell her of her beauty, and yet the Heavenly Father loves her. Hmm... I want to be her. I want to be set apart. I want to be outside the social norm. I want my Heavenly Father to tell me I'm beautiful. I want to be and interesting bird.

From now on I'm going to use this expression as a praise!!! What an honor it would be to be referred to as an interesting bird. I'm going to be set apart and conform my heart and mind to be more like my divine example, Jesus Christ! Thank you Jesus for not conforming to the world. Thank you for setting yourself apart. Thank you for not joining the social norm. As cheesy as this may sound... I'm going to put on my big girl wings and fly!!!!