Flower: [about two birds fluttering around] Well! What’s the matter with them?
Thumper: Why are they acting that way?
Friend Owl: Why, don’t you know? They’re twitterpated.
Flower, Bambi, Thumper: Twitterpated?
Friend Owl: Yes. Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. For example: You’re walking along, minding your own business. You’re looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden you run smack into a pretty face. Whoo-whoo! You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head’s in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather, and before you know it, you’re walking on air. And then you know what? You’re knocked for a loop, and you completely lose your head!
Thumper: Gosh, that’s awful.
Flower: Gee whiz.
Bambi: Terrible!
Friend Owl: And that ain’t all. It could happen to anyone, so you’d better be careful.
[points at Bambi]
Friend Owl: It could happen to you…
[points at Thumper]
Friend Owl: … or you, or even…
[Flower looks at Owl shyly]
Friend Owl: Yes, it could even happen to you!
Thumper: Well, it’s not gonna happen to me.
Bambi: Me neither.
Flower: Me neither.Quote obtained from IMDB
Watch the clip
Haha. After this, Flower, Thumper, and Bambi go on to ‘fall in love’ in the next 5-10 minutes of footage. Spring. Life. Excitement. Good old social observation.
Anyways, to put this in context, just because a bunch of skunk, rabbit, and deer friends can all grow up and move on at the same time in a Disney movie does not mean that it is realistic to expect the same for yourself. The real world is far less neat, and strings are left untied everywhere.
I’m not just saying this regarding ‘twitterpation’. Let’s turn the topic here.
Reality can induce a resentful (hence sinful) attitude towards… life. I say life, though I actually mean God; but if you believe God is in charge of your life, then saying ‘life’ would make sense, right? We often hide God behind life anyways. This resentment towards life often relates to comparison between the self and the other, where anything that is ‘other’ is better because it’s not what you have. (Straight hair/curly hair.)
A very good blog series on envy/comparison is being put out right now on girltalk that is well worth a read. (Maybe more so than this blog.)
Recent developments in my own life (getting accepted for further schooling) have prompted me to consider and affirm more deeply that God is always good to us whatever the circumstance. I write that not as vain self-reassurance, but because doubt crept into my mind a few times, and yet I knew that this was truth. God was just as good before I applied, while I waited, and after being accepted, but would still be just as good if I did not apply or did not get accepted. Of course I can praise God ‘for getting in’ to a school, but praising God for being good can happen with any of the aforementioned scenarios. Praise is in no way related to the circumstance, for it is related first of all to the subject, God, who does not change like the “shifting shadows” of situation (James 1:17).
People in truly horrible circumstances are usually better at praising God than their ‘fortunate’ counterparts – I would say it is for lack of distraction by socially coveted ‘blessings’.
Anyways, read that blog! especially March 16 and March 17. It looks at John 21.
R::OOM to think 