Pete and Benny

Outside my bedroom window, perched on the porch railing, sits an old plastic owl. When I first saw him, I didn't like him very much. He's apparently been there for quite some time, because his paint is chipping, giving him a pretty ragged and decaying look overall. More than once he's given me a bit of a fright as I peer out my bedroom window at night, because I forget he's sitting there and I wonder who on earth is on my porch. (I'm not all that crazy about the dark anyhow.)

So I named him.

Giving things a name makes them seem so much less threatening, and giving my owl the name of Pete has helped matters. Now I kinda like him, in fact; the stoic, plump old codger sitting up there gazing eternally out to sea. I've made up a story in my mind to tell the nieces and nephews, in which Pete comes to life at times and can fly around as free as you please until dawn.

And, recently, it seems that Pete himself has made a friend. That's Benny. He's the perkiest little woodpecker, always with a jauntily rumpled red patch on his head. I wish I could reach out and smooth it down for him with one finger, but then that would detract from the cuteness of his bed-head.

Benny has developed a particular fondness for Pete, because nearly every day I catch him perched on Pete's regal chest, pecking way at his plastic cheek. It's adorable, and quirky, and it makes me laugh! Good ol' Benny! Shouldn't the little guy be afraid of the old owl? I mean, owls are rather carnivorous, after all.

Maybe he's like me. Maybe he was a little spooked by the owl at first, but then gave him a non-threatening name and made friends. Or maybe, as my mom always tells me I do, I'm putting human emotions on animals?

....Naw.

Anyhow, Pete and Benny bring to mind a poem about fear vs. trust which I just discovered and will post my favorite stanzas of below. It is always good to remember and delight in the sovereignty of God. He makes all of our fears about a multitude of issues-- large life issues to scary ol' owls in the dark-- seem so miniscule. Lately the fear that has affected me has disguised itself as "wondering" (I wonder what will happen... I wonder if this matters as much to God as it does to me...I wonder if God's really going to work things out the way I hope He will...). It's a lack of faith, packaged neatly so that I don't always recognize it as fear. And so, God's voice prompts me to "Give to the winds thy fears". To open my clenched fists and throw all those "wondering" thoughts into the winds, letting them scatter like ashes and embracing the divine Guide who'se promised never to leave or forsake me! What better way to glorify God than to trust Him?

Give to the winds thy fears,

Hope and be undismayed.

God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,

God shall lift up thy head.

Through waves and clouds and storms,

He gently clears thy way;

Wait thou His time; so shall this night

Soon end in joyous day.

What though Thou rulest not;

Yet heaven, and earth, and hell

Proclaim, God sitteth on the throne,

And ruleth all things well.

And whatsoe’er Thou will’st,

Thou dost, O King of kings;

What Thine unerring wisdom chose,

Thy power to being brings.

Far, far above thy thought,

His counsel shall appear,

When fully He the work hath wrought,

That caused thy needless fear.

-Paul Gerhardt