Bird by Bird

So, it seems like when you are in a tough season of life, everything can be just, well, totally overwhelming.  I was over at the Elliott's the other night, and Randy was sharing some stuff that had happened to him, and we were both worried about DeeDee with all her diseases, and I was sharing things, and...we just felt overwhelmed!  We gathered in a circle and prayed together, and walked with each other through it! 

I was reading from Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird the other day, and she describes the incident that forms the title of the book.  She says that her brother had this big report on birds due, and it had been assigned weeks earlier, but he had waited until the very last moment.  So he is sitting at the table, surrounded by paper and colored pencils, and books about birds, and he can't even pick up a pencil to begin to write or draw one of the birds.  He is just so TOTALLY overwhelmed that he has no idea where to start!  Anne's father comes over, and puts his hand on his son's shoulder and says "You just have to take it bird by bird, son -- bird by bird."  That, Anne writes is how we all have to live...bird by bird, moment by moment.

The writer of Ecclesiastes penned the following words, which so many of us know by heart:

"There is a time for everything, 
       and a season for every activity under heaven:"

But the writer concludes that same chapter with these words:

"So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?"

It is almost as if Solomon is saying..."You gotta take it bird by bird, son -- bird by bird."