Suli Breaks leaves crowd SPEECHLESS with CLASSIC spoken word pieces.
Feed the birds / Ne Pas Nourrir Les Oiseaux.
A quick story to share with you all...
I heard it a few weeks back while sitting with a group of brothers at an evening meal. As we sat there with our stomachs full of a generous helping of rice and meat, one of the Akhis (brothers) told a story that profoundly impacted me.
His story takes place on a sweltering summer day as he cycled around with a group of friends, set on finding something to eat. In the process of a few indecisive conversations, the Akhi and his friends bumped into a few more friends who were also in search of something to eat. The new addition to the group suggested another location, a burger joint on the other side of London.
"I can't remember why we decided on that location," the Akhi recounts, "but we ended up cycling from one side of London to the other, just for burgers."
Upon arriving at the burger joint, the Akhi proceeds to eat, but he is on a keto diet, which means limited carbs, so no tasty brioche bun for my Akhi. Rather than discard the bread portion of the meal — he does not practice wastefulness —my brother carefully wraps his bread in tissue and requests that the group stop at the closest park.
When the group arrives at the park, my Akhi takes his bread pieces, litters them on the floor, and seconds later, a group of pigeons descend. His meal had now transformed into a feast for the hungry pigeons. As the birds dine on my Akhi's leftovers, he is struck with a revelation. "Wow, Allah brought me all the way from one side of London to another so that I could feed these pigeons."
Simple, yet profound. Where am I going with this? Let me land.
There is a Bible verse my wife quotes often. "Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."
Recently in Paris, after giving my son his leftover bread pieces at a local park, I saw the sign, "Ne Pas Nourrir Les Oiseaux," ("Do Not Feed The Birds"). It reminded me of my Akhi's story because I realized we all see these signs daily. The signs don't always read "Ne Pas Nourrir Les Oiseaux," but take many other forms. Sometimes they look like the job we are afraid to apply for or the time we are unwilling to invest because we fear it won't pan out. Sometimes they aren't signs; they are voices: friends, family, and people trying to keep us safe because they don't know who will feed the birds either.
People who are afraid to fly because there is no security. The birds are the dreamers, and once they take the sky, there is no guarantee that you will have anything to survive on when you land. Yet, it is written, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."
If you are feeling lost, please don't give up hope that help can come from the most unlikely sources. There may be a kind Ahki, sent on a pilgrimage to a burger joint on the other side of London, with a handful of breadcrumbs leading you out of the forests of despair.
People put up the signs, and they make the rules, but that doesn’t mean you have to force yourself to live by them.
For those UOSB fans who love my classic pieces, this happened last week:
Suli Breaks leaves crowd SPEECHLESS with CLASSIC spoken word pieces.