Clinging to the Known
When we were thinking of getting into missions, one of my first questions was ‘How can we do something this crazy while still being safe?’ It’s a real worry, especially as a parent of a small child. We took a look at the unknown expanse of the dream, as well as the history of missions, and we thought ‘What can we do to make it a little less unsafe?’.
This reminded me of a common analogy about a baby bird being pushed from its nest to learn how to fly. I’ve heard this story a lot. However, I was surprised to learn that this is not the only approach that parent birds use to teach their young. The mama bird will first attempt to coax her babies out with food, encouraging them to take a small leap onto a neighboring ledge in order to reach the food they need. Sometimes they are encouraged to leave through the call of their mama, and at times they simply follow the example of their siblings. It’s usually a last-ditch effort on the part of the mama bird that will bring us to the moment when the baby bird is pushed out of the nest and forced to fly.
But why do these mama birds take such a drastic step? It turns out the nest is not as safe as it seems, and the babies are at risk of predators intruding into their cup-shaped nests. So in the spirit of protecting their species, the mama bird forces the babies out in the hope that they will survive and thrive before a predator finds their tasty nest. But the babies don’t know that. All they see is their food getting further away, or they feel the push of their mama forcing them into the unknown.
But we know now, the nest is not as safe as it seems.
And so it is in life.
“We’ve elevated safety to the neglect of whatever would accomplish His purposes in our lives and in the world.”
I have told people and continue to tell people that we were not perfect, or even in any way better than others when we decided to walk down this path of missions. It’s a common misperception that only the most spiritually devout person can cross oceans and mountains to do this sort of thing, and it’s not a viewpoint that I’m not keen on upholding. The truth is that we were so comfortable in our life that in order to do anything of worth we needed to leave the nest, so to speak. There was a predator lurking and mama bird was calling us to be more capable of survival. Call that predator whatever name you like: comfort, apathy, laziness, I’m not sure. But our metaphorical nest was too cosy, and we needed to spread our wings and learn to fly.
And it’s this lesson that the baby bird needs to learn as well. They were made to fly, and so were we. We were made to push boundaries, challenge ideas, and become capable of using the wings we’ve been born with. For me and Glyn, that meant leaving our homeland. For you, it might be simpler. It might be talking to that neighbor that you’ve avoided eye contact with for 5 years. It might be leaving that job you’ve been too comfortable in, and taking a risk on another job. For some of you, it could be taking a step of faith in your finances or your family situation. Whatever it looks like, guys…just go for it!
It’s not without its discomfort. But I’d pick flying over sitting in the nest every. single. day.
And that’s as far as I’m taking this metaphor, haha.
