Learning from Pigeons…

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." – Hebrews 4:13.

Most important of all is that we need to remind ourselves that we are not only responsible for ourselves and what we do, but we are also responsible before God and one day will be required to give an account of our life to Him.

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You may have read about an experiment where "pigeons were put in cages with one green and one red button.

In one cage, if the birds pecked the green button they got food every time. In the other, the green button yielded food erratically and the pigeons had to persist to get enough food.

In both cases, pecking the red button did nothing. Both sets of birds thrived, learning what they had to do to survive and ignoring the red button that yielded no food. But when the birds that were used to getting a reward were put in the cage that fed them only occasionally, they failed to adapt; they hit their heads against the cage and pecked wildly at everything in sight."

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Birds and animals can be very smart and quickly learn to pursue activities that produce positive results while avoiding activities that don't.

Pity we humans aren't always as smart. Too many of us invest our lives in empty, meaningless, or even harmful activities and relationships, and have a way of continually hitting red buttons that always result in getting negative responses.

Others, like the pigeons that were used to getting rewarded all the time when put in the cage where they were rewarded only occasionally.

As adults we need to eliminate (overcome) our own red buttons that trigger our unresolved issues from the past, and not purposely hit others' red buttons that never result in obtaining what we need or want.

So, let us thank God for the gift of life and all the blessings He has given us so freely and avoid unnecessarily hitting others’ red buttons and accept our responsibilities, so that, one day when we stand before Him we will hear His welcoming words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

Stay Blessed!