 
His name is Birdy. He lives comfortably in a simple cage next to Tweedle
at the CFR. He is a cockatiel, a male cockatiel to be exact. Birdy is also
nuttier than a pecan log. We've sent him to the best bird docs in CT, and
they've certified that fact. He thinks our son Daniel's toes are family.
Sometimes he gets an irresistible notion to fly, flapping his wings like he's
gotta get somewhere fast, while never leaving his perch. He likes to whistle
when the mood strikes -- no tune in particular, at least none that
non-cockatiels can readily decipher. He is our fearless watchbird,
ejaculating knife-in-the-ear shrieks when he "senses" someone coming down
our road before we can even see them. Birdy likes to have his scrawny neck
rubbed a thousand times a day, and expresses his displeasure with squawks and
bites when you are not getting it right -- usually within about 3 seconds.
For some reason, Birdy doesn't like women much either, never has.
But our madcap cockatiel with issues has shown us something intriguing about what it means to long repeatedly after something. All day long, every day, he wants to be a part of our family. He lets us know by trying to get our attention, circling his white cage continuously when we are in the room, whistling, squawking, saying his name again and again until one of us pays attention. Then, if you open his cage and take him out, he likes to sit on your shoulder or your head and nibble on your ear. Other times he will crisscross those same shoulders babbling contentedly. Birdy knows how to long and not give up. To long after something or someone is to ache for, or after it like a delicious ice cream you discovered in a shoppe you only get to visit once a year. It's a "hot" word signifying passion, desire, down in the gut, for a long time yearning. Longing carries with it the sense of waiting, of long-suffering, and holding out for something seen having special, even unique value. There is always a sense of having to keep at it because the object of desire is far off, held back, or out of reach. Because the object longed for has such great worth or importance there is an intense pull that can bear a person through considerable stretches of time. This same "pull" sustains the hope of fulfilling the longing because to do so will bring immense pleasure, or joy, or completion. Longing, therefore, can look forward or backward depending upon where the object of desire is located in time. For instance, people pine for the "good ol' days," or happier family times long passed, or for a season in life when it seemed that "the living was easy." People also yearn for a certain future because it has the appearance of promising to give what has been missed, lost, or will most assuredly be better. We can long for a person, a place, or a thing. We can long for a feeling, a mood, even a fantasy (most of us get caught there at one time or another). We can even long for something we have never experienced such as living in the south of France. The power behind all of this rests in the sense that we are convinced what we set our hearts on holds the fascinating potential of being extraordinarily pleasurable or good. We just know it. We believe it with all our might. We just feel it. Solomon in the Book of Proverbs alludes to this truth when he notes that "a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." (Pr.13:12b) He gets even closer to the heart of things by claiming that "a longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul." (Pr. 13:19a) Sweet indeed. We are sure it will be. Whether from right motives or wrong, what we deeply long for has lured us with the promise of savory sweetness. Likewise, in some profoundly mysterious way the object of our remarkable affection shapes us. We are influenced and formed by what we offer ourselves to even if it does not exist yet, or existed in the past and has won us over afresh. If we are pulled by objects of eternal merit or value, we invite the possibility of living for something larger than ourselves. We may even find the capacity for greatness and heroism in seeking after it sacrificially. If we desire that which is base or evil we are degraded, even dehumanized by its pursuit. We become less than what we were created to be. The object has become a cruel master, mocking the inherent dignity of being made in the image of God. Perhaps this notion of being shaped by what we desire is easiest to see in the example of the person who becomes obsessed with someone or something. Inordinate amounts of time and energy are offered to thinking about or fantasizing over what is excruciatingly desired. The object of the obsession becomes this person's reason for being, in effect, because it is held in the heart as being singularly vital to him for happiness. Obviously, all longing is not obsession. Obsession is pathological longing. It is irrational, unfettered lust, greed, or possession. But in truth, the ability to desire anything passionately is an inestimable gift given by God, because ultimately it is called to find its highest end in Him. God created desire, passion, and longing. Then He says, "Aim it at Me, and I will fulfill the longing of your heart so that you will never have to hunger or thirst deep in your soul." But, He also warns, "Aim it somewhere else and you will never have what you long to keep." You see, even God who has altogether no need of anything seems to make Himself vulnerable, and longs from somewhere deep in His divine Being. In Isaiah 65: 1-2 He calls to His stiff-necked chosen, "Here am I, here am I. All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations." In Jeremiah 31:20 He asks, "Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him, declares the Lord." Jesus bears his heart before a spiritually blind city lamenting, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." (Mt. 23:37) There is the unmistakable capacity in the Being of God to express longing out of the utter goodness and lavish generosity of His loving nature. Being love at its very essence: Love Incarnate; Love Personified; Love Perfected; Love Abounding; Love Without Condition, He longs as a Lover longs for his or her Beloved. His desire is ever ardent, always affectionate; eternally enduring. His longing never grows from lack or want, but from fullness; it is uncontainable overflow that must be shared. The joyous love shared by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is drawn to broken vessels to heal and make ready for a Wedding Feast; love having finished its work, and longing having been quieted by the overwhelming beauty, goodness, and perfection of its magnificent Object. But we are not God. In stunning contrast, our longings most often come from what we don't yet have, even if the object of our yearning flows from the best of intentions. No one longs for what he already has in his possession. By God's design we are left wanting. Nevertheless, we seek completion. We are often unfulfilled, yet crave fulfillment. We are famished seeking satiation. We run empty, and ache to be filled to the brim. The problem is: most earth-based longings are leaky vessels. They'll never hold what we try to put in them. Why does God allow what seems like plain old tearing around after the wind? So much human effort races toward laying hold of what never surely satisfies. There is great restlessness afoot. Who knows deep rest these days? Is anyone so content that raw desire is only a remembrance? The "haves" want to be the "have mores," and the"have nots" end up being the "how come I can't have yours?" Our predicament is really one of perspective, I suspect. How we see things many times determines our actual take on them. God has designed us to find and rest our deepest desires in Him. If I end up getting lost in a longing that consumes me with anything or anyone else, then I am trapped by lesser things. Many "suitors" beckon, but most are charlatans in the end. My take on their value is just flat out wrong. Paul in his letter to the Colossians can help us out of this bind. He instructs us that because we "have been raised with Christ," it is imperative to "set (our) hearts on things above," and to "set (our) minds on things above, not on earthly things," He reasons this necessary in that "(we) died, and (our) life is now hidden with Christ in God." In fact, he says that Christ "is (our) life." (Col. 3:1-4) Paul gets our longings turned in the right direction. By "setting" Paul means to keep on sitting with the things of heaven: to stay there, to turn repeatedly toward where our lives are hid and in Whom they are hidden. It is just too easy to long for piddly things that appear so important. We might even be caught up in desires that are honorable and beneficial, even noble. But, if our longing seeks its end in any of them, we will always find ourselves the lonesome owners of the short end of the stick. Remember Jesus' sapient warning in Matthew 6:21 that ". . . where your treasure is, there your heart will also be." Our longings are like a floodlight on the heart. Put a searchlight on them and they reveal where we actually seek happiness, peace, contentment, or completion. They expose nakedly our real treasures, some of them hidden in vaults way down the backstairs of the heart where only we can go to see them late at night when no one knows we are there. A question for you, then: Is Jesus your Treasure of treasures, your Longing of longings? We all have treasures of many types: family, friends, our material possessions, our businesses, goals, fantasies, memories. But when the table is cleared off to reveal wood, what is there? Do you long for Christ as an ache? Do you yearn to see Him? Is your heart set on "things above" or things on earth? Listening leads us to intimacy, drawing us into His light, shining into our dark places, and beginning the process of healing in our souls. The intimate encounter with God you have while on retreat here moves you deeper into your soul and reveals who He is for you! His nature is to bring the light of His love into your inner being to let you know Him and your true self more. He dismantles the distorted root system of your understanding of what it means to be loved. The process of bringing light into darkness takes place. You grow into knowing God in the face of Jesus, and His love that surpasses knowledge. Therefore, anything present in you that keeps you from this must be discarded and replaced with the voice of One who loves and knows you. This is spiritual, emotional healing, a surgery of the mind, spirit, and heart. It takes place gradually sometimes and intensely other times, depending upon the place of your will, understanding, and trust in who you think the Lord is. Then there are the pain, lies and deception you might be hiding. Your sin, and the hurtful effects of sins against you can create negative strongholds that might become doors to binding demonic activity. On the other hand, a lifelong practice of listening will grow in us an intimacy with the One who calls us beloved. Healing from the things hidden in darkness, whether we are aware of them or not, is also a part of this lifelong process. Also unfolding from listening to His heart toward us is a new awareness of the Holy Spirit, and His personhood in the Trinity. We start to encounter God in a fresh way, perhaps unfamiliar at first, but with goodness, and love, and freedom in it. In this growing encounter the "unseen Real" becomes more familiar to us. Christ becomes more and more the nourishment of our soul every day.In this growth process, however, we will still always need to test the spirits. It is our task to watch how our growing awareness of the love and Presence of God bears fruit, and lines up with the character of Christ. But we need never to be timid with the Lover of our Souls. We should always ask for wisdom to see Christ in all that we hear and experience through listening. As God manifests what is true, He manifests His own nature. Look for Him, and ask Him to reveal what is true as you listen. Seek Him to help you discern what is true. He is there to reveal Himself to you, part of his "mission statement," if you will. The light of His countenance is creative and moves into our souls. He is not timid about what the light needs to expose in us, but He is gentle in doing it. You can pray with trust: "I choose, Lord Jesus, for you to demonstrate your authority over my places of darkness, sin, pain and hurt, and their fruit in my life. Amen."  Reasons to Shout Praises to God!!!!
Reasons we ask you to pray for us:
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