Struttin' their stuff

A series inspired by sights in Kauai.

Native to South Africa, but also found in Hawaii, this Bird of Paradise plant prompted a childhood memory.  In the late 1950s, when my dad’s job transfer took us from sunny Los Angeles to a small town in rainy Western Washington, my mother couldn’t bear to leave behind her favorite hot-weather house plants.  Those included some cacti and her Bird of Paradise, for which Dad built an indoor plant shelf in the sunniest window.  When the “bird” finally bloomed again after the move, she celebrated. Named for its avian look-alike, the plant's stem ended with beak-like head, from which emerged three brilliant orange sepals and three purplish-blue petals resembling a bird “on the wing.”

The avian “bird of paradise” has its own story.  The flashiest one, the “Greater bird of paradise” found in New Guinea and nearby islands, is about the size of a crow.  The male bird has a golden head, emerald green forehead and throat, and maroon wings and tail. Its “wow” factor is the dense mass of plumes, up  to two feet long, which spring from under the wings. The female is a dull-colored bird. But at mating season, the males gather in a tree to impress the ladies by strutting, dancing and spreading their plumes.  

 So here you have two show-offs of nature.  A spiritual analogy?  Perhaps there’s one in Jeremiah’s prophecy contrasting human pride and God’s glory. Paul dealt with the issue when his authority as an apostle of Christ was questioned. He urged the church to evaluate leaders by spiritual, not worldly, standards. Before launching into his autobiography, which verified how much he’d suffered to spread the Gospel, he quoted from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah:

Let him who boasts boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. (2 Corinthians 10:17-18 NIV)

The quote came from Jeremiah’s admonition to seek to better know God and His attributes over the best of human “learning”:

“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
Or the strong man boast of his strength
Or the rich man boast of his riches,
But let him who boasts boast about this:
That he understands and knows me,
That I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.
(Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV)

God isn’t impressed with a flashy faith that, like mating Birds of Paradise, struts about with showmanship religion. Instead, in seeking Him above all else, the quiet beauty of a faith-filled life can emerge.