facing my fear

ok, so any one who knows me well knows i only have one fear. one phobia, if you will.

i am afraid of birds.

i know now i will get lots of practical jokes involving fowl, but whatever. it's not wild birds that i fear as much as people birds: pets, city pigeons, that sort of thing. basically i don't like birds that like people.

my fear stems from several bad experiences. a few of my friends growing up had pet birds. some had big birds, some little. in an attempt to get me accustomed to birds as pets (i've always been a dog person), this friend put her two very small birds on my shoulder. instead of sitting and chirping nicely, they started pecking my ears mercilessly! not a fun experience.

another friend in high school had a huge tropical bird. we were sitting in the family room, the bird on its perch. out of nowhere, the giant red bird takes flight and heads straight for my head! had i not moved, my face would look quite different than it does now.

so, i don't really like birds.

today, as josh and i were getting ready to run errands, we go out to our car and in the space next to ours, there's a little baby bird on the ground. it's momma had made a nest in the covered parking. poor little guy look quite new, missing several feathers and keeping his eyes closed a lot. he had a big wad of fishing line wrapped around his little leg. my heart broke.

i may not like birds, but i don't want to see one suffering. josh got some socks and put them on his hands to pick the little guy up and i called animal control. luckily they are practically around the corner. animal control came and picked up the little guy and took him to the bird rehabilitation center just down the road. i hope the little guy is okay.

if i could have chosen what i would do today, finding a bird and needing to take care of it would not have been my first preference. but God knows when we need to face our fears and He puts us in situations to face them where there is no option to turn and run. the only option is to look our fear in the eye and deal with it.

do i love birds now? no, not really. do i want a pet bird now? ummm, no. but i have become a little more comfortable around them. having one take flight right next to my head still freaks me out.