One day a very devout Christian woman went to a pet store. She saw this beautiful parrot and immediately fell in love with it and wanted to buy it. The owner knew this lady well and said, “Lady, I cannot sell you that parrot.”
The lady said, “Why not?”
He said, “Well, you see, he was owned by a sailor and he curses a blue streak.”
But the woman could not be put off. She said, “I will change that parrot and turn him into a good parrot. Here’s my charge card.”
She took that parrot home, believing that with some Christian love and firm discipline he could be changed. No sooner had she gotten that parrot home he began cursing and swearing just like the man warned. Well, she looked at that parrot and said, “I will not have that kind of language in this house. If I hear any more of it I am going to put you in the freezer for ten minutes and teach you a lesson.”
Well, the parrot continued to swear, so the woman took the parrot out of the cage and put him in the freezer. After ten minutes she took him out.
The shivering parrot looked at her and said, “Pppplease, Llllady, wwwwould yyyyou ttttell mmmme jjjjust oooone tttthing? Wwwwhat ddddid tttthe tttturkey ddddo?”
The parrot had met his match! Isaiah, the Advent prophet, tells us today (Isaiah 29:17-24) that we too have met our match: “And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the LORD, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the tyrant will be no more and the arrogant will be gone. All who are alert to do evil will be cut off.”
This is what happens to us when we meet and spend time with our Savior. Those of us in a cold climate this Advent day might need to shiver a bit like the parrot in the dark in order to see the the Light. Advent is a great time to listen to the words that come out of our mouths. Do we sound like a parrot raised by a sailor? If we do, maybe we need to spend some time in the freezer with the turkey!!
