Thorn Birds

Colleen McCullough's best-selling novel The Thorn Birds begins with the legend of a bird that sings only once in its life-and it sings more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment the bird leaves her nest, she searches for a thorn tree, refusing to rest until she has found one. Then singing among the savage branches, she impales herself upon the longest and sharpest thorn. And dying, she rises above her own agony to out-carol, out-sing the lark and the nightingale.

A superlative song-existence the price.

The whole world stills to listen and the Abba of Jesus smiles, for the best is bought at the price of great pain.

At this moment in my own personal legend, martyrdom does not seem to require marching to the lions for Christ or bringing Him to Zaire or Nicaragua as a missionary. The call I hear deep within me is to reveal His forgiving love to those who have trespassed against me. It costs a lot to pray, "Thy will be done" - death to the old man, overcoming grudges and long-standing resentments, transcending bitter memories and justifiable hostilities, reaching out in reconciliation to those who have turned me down, ripped me off, and screwed me up.

Maybe this is why the only four times that "Thy will be done" occurs in the New Testament is in the context of martyrdom. The older I get, the more I realize the truth of the adage "It's easier to die for Christ than to live for Him."

 

Lord, deliver me from self-righteous people. Deliver me from people who think they know you better than anyone else. Who think that only they can understand your ways. Who think that only they can interpret your word. Who wail and gnash their teeth over the sins of the world, but fail to see their own.

Who urge others to meekness and humility, but fail to follow their own advice.

Who expound at length on charity but fail to practice it. Who preach mercy and compassion, but fail to show it. Who insist that they alone hold the key that unlocks the door to your kingdom. Who insist that they alone have found the sure path by which to follow you.

Lord, deliver me from myself. I, too, am one of these.

- Brennan Manning