The wacky bird is back! There he sits, on this year’s perch.

If he would just perch and nothing more, that would be fine. But, no, not him. He really doesn’t perch there much. He interacts. Yes, with a shiny stovepipe. Evidently with his own reflection.

And he’s actually been back for a couple of months, but I could never camera-capture him till lately. I still haven’t captured him in action, except for one obscure glimpse of a shadowy fluttering feathered form behind the pipe.

No, we don’t often see him, but we do hear him. Especially during naps. Or times of deep concentration.

“Tap! Taptaptap tap!” Over and over and over.

Then silence.

Then (suddenly) “Tap! Tap-tap! Taptaptap!”

You get the idea.

And maybe the feeling. The frustration of trying to grab a quick nap before dinner (which ends  up very quick!) The frustration of trying to compose Bible study or blog post with that unpredictable interruption, sent from… where?

For right behind that steel chimney, within the house it’s attached to, in otherwise silence serene, sit the library below and the bedroom above.

And that rat-a-tat-tat… well… I asked Husband how he would describe the sound. He answered one word: “Annoying!”

But this post isn’t about us being annoyed. It’s about the Wacky Bird’s mixed-up mentality.

Why does he DO that?

The woodpecker that used to pound our metal rain gutter made sense once I learned the males try to attract females by their noise, the louder the better (like teenaged boys?) He could make his drumming sound like a jackhammer! (And that, too, right outside the front bedroom window, first thing at dawn.)

But this finch’s behavior fits into some odd category of its own. And I can’t help trying to psychoanalyze.

Psychoanalyze a bird brain? I know that seems bird-brained itself. But I think there’s a reflection of more than a bird here — one of much human behavior.

Is this feathered fellow a narcissist, smitten with his own image reflected in the steel shine?

Or is he battling an imagined enemy who turns out to be himself?

Or is he otherwise too self-absorbed?

I need to ask myself similar questions. Do I ever behave like the wacky bird in any of those foolish ways?

Do I seek to admire my own image reflected in others’ eyes or applause?

Or, in self-preoccupation, am I treating myself with undue harshness, as my own worst enemy (thus becoming that)?

Or, trying to produce perfection, am I too self-absorbed in self-analysis and self-improvement campaigns?

In any case, is this where I should be looking?

James speaks of the hearer-but-not-doer of God’s word as one who sees his own face in a mirror, then goes off and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. This doesn’t prescribe mirror gazing, but emphasizes our attitude once we’ve gotten a view of ourselves. A spiritual mirror can indeed be a helpful tool, but preoccupation with one’s own self, in any of the above ways, is counterproductive.

There’s somewhere better to be looking, Someone better to look at, and a better Law than self-imposed human regulations.

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of [our] faith… -Hebrews 12:2

But He who looks into the perfect law of liberty… and is a doer… is blessed.    – James 1:25

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More Reasons to Focus on and Praise Him (From James 1):

• 267 – Because if any of us lacks wisdom, (s)he can ask Him and He will give it.
• 268 – Because He gives to all, liberally.
• 269 – Because He has promised the crown of life to those who love Him
• 270 – Because He cannot be tempted by evil
• 271 – Because He doesn’t tempt any human to it, either
• 272 – Because every good and every perfect gift comes down from Him
• 273 – Because He is the Father of Lights
• 274 – Because with Him there is no variation or even shadow of turning
• 275 – Because of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth
• 276 – Because He has done this to produce newly brought-forth first-fruits of His creatures
• 277 – Because His is the “perfect law of liberty”
• 278 – Because He considers pure and undefiled religion to manifest itself in concern and care for widows and orphans in their distress and in keeping unspotted from the world

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