THE STORY OF THE SONGBIRD

There was once a songbird that sang beautifully in the gardens of Heaven. This songbird had the freedom to go anywhere in Heaven, but her favorite place to be was in the palm of GOD’s hands. One day, as the songbird was singing sweetly from the palm of GOD’s hand, there arose an emergency on Earth. GOD had to visit Earth immediately to see what was happening. HE took the songbird along with HIM.

When the songbird saw Earth, she fell in love immediately with it. She gazed about like a newborn baby recognizing its mother for the first time. The emergency dealt with, GOD was now ready to return to Heaven. He noticed that HIS favorite songbird was no longer singing, she was looking so forlorn HE had to ask, “What’s the matter Whitney?”
The songbird looked up at GOD and in a soft voice responded with, “Please FATHER can I stay here for a while, please, please? I really like it here!

“No!!!” thundered GOD, “This place is not for you, you are too frail and delicate for this world! “Oh please, please FATHER, just for a while, I promise to behave myself, I have met the eagles and I just want to sing with them, they took me so high!, oh please FATHER please! They are having so much fun here on Earth!”

GOD looked at the songbird and said, “Whitney, you do not even realize what you are asking of me, as for the eagles – you don’t know them like I do”. But the songbird kept begging and beseeching GOD till HE relented and gave the songbird the desires of her heart. “Okay, just for a while!”. The songbird was so happy; her parting words to GOD as HE was leaving were…..”I promise to behave myself!”

“Yeah right”, muttered GOD. Turning to the two angels that had accompanied HIM to Earth HE said, “You two are responsible for her”

The songbird was quickly taken under the wings of the eagles. They taught her how to walk, how to talk, how to dress. One thing they couldn’t teach her was how to sing, it was a God-given talent, and not even the songbird could claim it as her own. The eagles took the songbird high, soaring to skies she had never been before. They loved her and took her everywhere they went.
After a time the other songbirds got jealous over the attention that the eagles were paying to her. They began harping behind her back, carrying news to the eagles about her. They went further and ridiculed her openly; they laughed at her choice of clothes, her shoes, and her jewelry and they even threw bad seeds at her.

One day the songbird saw GOD. HE was once again taking care of an emergency on Earth. “FATHER!”, she cried, “I want to come back home with you” GOD shook his head sadly, “I am sorry my child, it’s not yet time for you to return, your time has not yet come”. “What do you mean? asked the songbird. GOD replied, “When you asked to stay a set number of days were allotted for your sojourn on Earth, you can’t leave until these days have been fulfilled, you know that don’t you? “Oh!” screamed the songbird, “I forgot about the rule about days assigned when you leave Heaven!, but FATHER, there has to be another way to leave this place, I want to come home so badly! The other songbirds hate me and I hear that the eagles are planning to take me to even higher heights and I am scared!!” “I am sorry”, said GOD, “You’ll have to stay, and you only leave Earth when you die”. “Okay then I’ll kill myself”, said the songbird. “No!”, said GOD, “That’s not your destiny, you will die at the appointed time”. “I don’t care!”, snapped the songbird, “I will do all that I can to die! You’ll see! I’ll back with you in no time!” The songbird flew away.

GOD watched her as she flew away. He turned to the two Angels and said, “GOODNESS, MERCY! Continue to watch over my child!”
The years passed. Unbelievable as it may seem the songbird was doing everything in her power to destroy herself. She wanted to die so badly. Each time she would look to the Heavens and cry out, “FATHER is it time yet?” There would be no answer from GOD. The songbird just continued on her path of destruction. The eagles were always there to encourage her to go to higher heights. They even picked a mate for her. A swallow, whose summer was definitely over. The songbird couldn’t care less; she just wanted to die so that she could return to the palm of her FATHER’s hand.

Sometime after, the songbird gave birth to her own little songbird and for a while she was so happy to be on Earth. Motherhood made her glow. She had a family of her own at last.

Then the eagles gathered. They began to pressure her for more performances. They came to her home one night claiming that there was a height she had never achieved that they wanted to take her but it would mean leaving her family behind. “But my family must come too!” ,cried the songbird. “No!”, said the eagles in unison, “Swallows are not allowed to fly so high and your child is too young!” “Well I won’t go you can’t make me!” said the songbird.
Then the bald eagle stood up, he took out a sheet of paper from his jacket and shoved it in the songbird’s face. “This is the contract you signed giving us power over every aspect of your life and if you look closely you’ll see that your signature is in your own blood!” “I can’t recall signing this”, wailed the songbird. “That’s not my problem”, said the bald eagle, “You did”. They left with the songbird sobbing uncontrollably.

After a while she dried her eyes and went for a walk in the garden. Suddenly, out of the shadows two men appeared. At first she thought it was the eagles returning for her, but it was the same two men who at odd times she would see everywhere she went. She had spoken to the Swallow about it but he had laughed and said that they were just some crazy fans of hers and as long as they weren’t creating a scene they were okay. To be honest the songbird had gotten accustomed to their presence…actually feeling safe whenever she saw them. The songbird recalled immediately that these two tried to stop her from going to a party that the eagles were having. She also recalled that she had them thrown out by bouncers. Fully understanding now the role of these two gentlemen she asked them if it was at that party she had signed the contract. They nodded yes. The songbird started to cry again. Immediately as she started she stopped.
“These people think they own me! Well I’ll show them that no one but the FATHER in Heaven owns me!”

She turned to ask the men for their names but they had disappeared. The songbird then began to recall the many times she had seen the two men. The number of times when they would watch her from a distance. That night at the party was the only time they had ever tried to speak to her. “Surely”, said the songbird, these two men must be GOODNESS and MERCY, the FATHER’s two faithful angels. If only I had known!”
The songbird then went inside, took up her sleeping baby and hugged her tightly. She knew what she had to do, she just hoped her baby would understand one day and forgive her.

From that night the songbird’s descent into hell began. She did every unthinkable deed to hasten her death. Still asking GOD every time “Is it time yet?”. The songbird listened to no one. She took advice from no one.

One day the songbird realized that she was no longer singing as sweetly as before. She also realized that her heart wasn’t beating the way it should. She figured that her time to go must be near. She said nothing to anyone. The songbird’s greatest fear was that someone would keep her from dying, put her on life support etc…no way, she said to herself, I will go home to the FATHER. However, there was something the songbird wanted to do before she died. Some young larks wanted her to be their mentor in a new film. They wanted her to act a role wherein which she would sparkle. So the songbird went ahead and once again became the talk of the Earth. She was visited by the bald eagle who kept waving the ‘contract’ in her face. She smiled at him and sang ‘soon I’ll be done with the troubles of the world’. The bald eagle did not understand, he thought she was preparing for a new movie.

The Grammy awards were coming up. The songbird’s friend invited her to her party so she went. At the party, she saw her two greatest fans GOODNESS and MERCY watching her. The songbird smiled at them and waved. Then she saw them both holding hourglasses in their hands. She saw that the sands were running out of GOODNESS’s hourglass faster than that of MERCY’s. The songbird immediately understood the significance of it all. She became agitated – not in fear – but in HAPPINESS. She knew that the FATHER was ready for her! She was so happy she burst out in the song “Yes JESUS loves me!” Only the two men with the hourglasses understood. Only the songbird understood! She was so happy she kept kissing everyone present. They just didn’t realize that these were goodbye kisses.

Two days later as the songbird was preparing for another party GOD came into her room. She just looked at HIM and said, “FATHER, it IS time!” GOD simply stretched out HIS HAND and the songbird stepped right into the palm of HIS HAND. She knelt, began to bow her head then changed her mind and just curled up like a baby and went to sleep with a smile on her face, knowing that when she woke up it would be in Heaven.