Family

I spent the day with my family, well most of them. My mother and 3 of my 5 siblings, and their spouses and kids and 1 cousin. We went to my sister's for a BBQ and just spent the day visiting. One of my brothers spent most of the time playing with the kids, while the rest of us sat around and talked. We teased him about it, mostly making excuses for why we weren't playing with them, too, saying that when he has had children (his wife is expecting their first), he will want to sit around and have adult conversation, too. His response: "I hope I never get that lazy!" Well, one day, when his child has learned to talk, and every adult conversation he tries to have, with his wife, or on the phone, or with the mailman, is interrupted with, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy..." "What?" "UUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM..." Maybe he will truly appreciate sitting around with adults and talking. On the other hand, I admire the fun he had with the kids. He gave them each a water balloon, telling them they only got one, so if it broke, that was it. They actually carried those things around for quite some time. Then my 10yr old dd ran in laughing about how they had all thrown their water balloons at Uncle Brian! That's what he gets for giving them water balloons! All in all it was a beautiful day! The sun was shining, the wind was at least warm...
Speaking of the wind, a few of us observed something kind of funny, but also thought provoking. The wind was quite strong at times and while we were out putting the hot dogs on the grill we saw a bird, flying into the wind! He was flapping his wings for all he was worth, but he wasn't getting anywhere. He would try to drop below the gale, and then try to get above it, in an effort to move forward. Sometimes he actually looked like he was just hanging there in the air, except those wings were just flapping a million beats a minute. They were a blur. Sometimes I feel like that bird. Pushing so hard to get where I want to go, but it feels like it's in vain. I figure it can be one of two problems...
Either I'm headed in the right direction and Satan is trying to blow me off course, or I am being stubborn, trying to do what I want to do, and I am not in harmony with what the Lord wants me to do, so I am not listening to the Spirit tell me to turn around and fly with the current.
I admired that bird for his persistence, but at the same time, part of me wanted to yell at him, "Go with the flow!" I wonder which would have been the right thing to do, not just the easy thing to do. He probably would have gotten to his destination faster if he had walked.

Well, I am ready to go to sleep. It's been a long day. FUN, but long!