Storing like a Woodpecker in Memorial

We have a bird feeder in our back yard. I noticed recently that different birds treat their material possessions differently. The Sparrows tend to show up when they are hungry, slim and quick, they visit a couple of times per day and get only enough to make it until the next meal. Mourning Doves stick around most of the day. They eat until they are bloated, fat and can barely fly. I guess this is what makes them a great source of easy protein for cats and hunters. The foolish gluttons fatten themselves up for their eventual demise.

The Woodpecker is perhaps the most appropriate bird for my neighborhood however. They store-it-up. Our Woodpecker spends hours, going tirelessly from the bird feeder to the closest tree. He picks up a seed and drives it deep into the oak. He is foolishly unaware however, that a few hours later our wily Squirrels come and steal his stored-up possessions. Every day it's the same routine. The Woodpecker stores and the Squirrels steal.

I'm watching this scene and reading Luke 12:14-34. A man comes to Jesus and asks him to tell his brother to equally divide their inheritance. In that day, when a father died, it was up to the oldest brother to administer the remaining assets. In this case, it didn't seem like an unfair request that the assets should be divided. But Jesus detects the idolatry and tells a story. There was a rich land owner who decided he needed more storage for his grain and crops, so he tears down the old barns to build bigger ones. The land owner's plan seems prudent. He is prosperous and needs plenty of assets to assure a secure future. "...Then I'll say to myself, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." But there is a problem. That night the man's life is taken. God calls him a fool, for storing up things for himself without being inclined toward God. It seems that the store-it-up strategy is not so prudent after all.

Jesus goes on in this passage to encourage us to act like the Sparrows. Not to worry about the future, but trust God to meet our daily needs. He encourages us to take the extra from our crops, and rather than storing-it-up, to give them to the poor. In this way, we will help our hearts to treasure the things that are really most valuable. It turns out that "a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

As it turns out, I am meeting with a financial advisor today. I may take that Woodpecker along and introduce him to the Sparrow.