Sifting Seeds

We have a bird named Mrs. Cotton. We called her "Mr. Cotton," after the pirate with a parrot in Pirates of the Caribbean, until she laid an egg. She's a grey Cockatiel who enjoys listening to music of many varieties, but is a little pickier when it comes to food. The birdseed we feed her is a mix of sunflowers and small, round, yellowish seeds. Mrs. Cotton likes the yellow seeds better than the sunflower seeds. So, recently I've taken to sifting her seeds before feeding her. We have a can-strainer that works as a filter and fits perfectly into a funnel, and this morning, I spent some time sifting seeds to feed Mrs. Cotton later.

At this point, I'd love to throw in some gospel analogy, or a moral principle I've learned while doing this, but I've got nothing. It's just a little anecdote, not even an interesting one.

One thing I have noticed, though, is that there are way more sunflower seeds than the other seeds, and the sunflower seeds are bigger. I've filled a large jar with sunflower seeds while trying to fill a smaller jar with good seed. Maybe there's an analogy in there? There's a lot of crummy stuff about life, but if you sift through it, you can fill your jar with good seed instead? Nah, life's not that bad. It's a little cold this morning - in fact, my hands are still cold - but the sunlight was great.

It took a good deal of time to get surprisingly little done. Only a small amount of seed fit into the sifter at a time, and most of it was sunflower seeds. It took patient and diligent work to fill even a small jar with good seeds. Maybe we need to be diligent and patient with our daily work, and be realistic about (and grateful for) what we get done, even if it's less than we hope. That's a good lesson. Let's go with that one.

In my own personal life, I'm often discouraged about how little I think I'm worth. I can't do much, talents-wise, and I'm not very strong either. Clever, perhaps, but not especially clever. I feel that I'm below-average in terms of my abilities (I probably shouldn't post this, in case a potential employer reads this, but if they do, I hope they admire honest self-evaluation and are looking for someone who doesn't have an overly-inflated ego). But however little I think I'm worth, I'm always worth some, and probably more than I think.

It may have felt like a long time sifting seeds with cold hands, but it was probably a lot quicker than I thought. And even if it wasn't, I got a jar filled with small, yellow seeds. That may not be worth much, but it's worth something to Mrs. Cotton. It took a measure of patience and diligence (proving that I have a measure of patience and diligence, employers), but it got some good done. I'm glad I did it.

From an eternal perspective, things that seem big can turn out to be little, and things that seem little can prove to be big. For example, let's say a person dedicated their life to earning lots and lots of money, and they did. They built several huge companies and, in the eyes of the world, got a lot of things done. But what about the important things? What about that person's soul, and his family life? Is he truly fulfilling life's true purpose? I know that people can truly succeed in life and earn lots of money, and many people have, but there's a matter of priorities. If a man's priority is to make money, he'll have a hard time following God's plan, too.

Contrast that to a father, who doesn't make a whole lot of money, but makes enough to support his wife and kids, and since he doesn't spend so much time trying to make money, he can spend more time with his family. This man won't appear in magazines, and he's not likely to change the world, but I'd say he's experiencing a successful life. That's the kind of life I'd like to have.

Maybe I never will amount to much in the eyes of the world. I probably won't be a world-renowned author, and I have no plans to become a wealthy businessman. I'd rather keep things small and simple, and I'd definitely rather not compete with the competitive elite for the highest spots on what they call the ladder of success. I don't have the right attitude for that kind of thing. But a nice, 9-to-5, paper-pushing job that brings in enough income to pay the expenses of a small family, and leaves me with enough time and energy to enjoy the company of that small family, is all I really feel I need.

Life is short, anyway. The big things of this world erode into dust after a few short centuries. Businesses rise and fall. As do mountains, and trees, and the oceans, and everything else. Every tycoon billionaire will meet their maker eventually, just like everyone else, and when that happens, earthly success will be irrelevant. What will matter will be how we actually lived our lives, including how we improved ourselves, how we loved others, and how we showed that love. Small acts of service will have great weight then, as will small efforts to practice patience and diligence. The little things we do each day will weigh more heavily than the great things we've accomplished over our lifetimes. Of course, that's just my guess.

But even in the small things, I struggle. There are many distractions in this world - pursuits of no real consequence in this life or any other. Most of the things one could do on the internet fit under that category. I supposed the moral of the story is to not worry about whether you're accomplishing bit things, but to frequently try to accomplish little things, especially those that help ourselves and others become more like Christ and feel His love for us. Sifting seeds for a Cockatiel makes me more like Jesus, as does washing dishes for Mom, and doing other service for Dad. I don't do as much as I should, but I do some, and I'll try to do more. I am a Paladin and a member of the Perkins Ward Elders Quorum. Service is in my blood.