This past weekend we took our cockatiels in for a feather and claw trimming.
This is a normal procedure we have done every few months. We usually are in and out in just a few minutes.
But this time it was taking longer. We waited and waited, only to find out he had jerked as he was being trimmed which led to a claw cut too close to his foot and he was bleeding. Bleeding so much that she couldn't stop it. He finally had to be taken to a vet.
Pet owners get how you can be attached to a dog, cat or for me my bird. Seeing him injured put an anger in me that I didn't know what to do with. Anger that sprung out of worry and feeling powerless to fix things. What if they can't get the bleeding stopped? What if it gets infected? What if he starts bleeding again in the night and dies?
I knew it wasn't the young lady's fault. She had taken care of him numerous times over the years I've had him without incident. Yet I still had to dismiss thoughts of coming back with sheet metal shears... the Sicilian in me had reared his ugly head.
However, the pet store lady took him to the vet and by the time she got there, the bleeding had stopped. By evening, he was fine, singing away as normal. And he's been fine ever since.
And I obviously didn't buy sheet metal shears... I repented of those thoughts.
Worry can sicken the heart and put the mind in a dark place.
Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:28-34 (NIV)
That's the key to trust, not only to trust Jesus with ourselves, but those he places in our lives to love and care for. That is sometimes hard to do, especially when we can't fix a problem. Yet, that's the only way to get through it - trust him, who not only cares, but can fix all problems.
