Bower Birds

This article was published in the “Norris City Banner” in Norris City, IL on June 25, 2008, in the “Gallatin County Democrat” on June 26, 2008 and the “Ridgway News” on June 26, 2008.

Last year my wife and I were given a gift.  My in-laws called us and said that they would like to buy us a new bed.  The following Saturday, we went to the “Furniture Emporium and Tire Center” (not the real name) to look around.  I had my heart set on a brand name memory foam bed, but Christa said they were too expensive.  We found a mattress that we liked – not too hard, not too soft, but just right.  We were currently sleeping in a full sized bed and really did want to upgrade.  Christa thought we should get a queen.  But I talked her into a king.  She called her mother for pre-approval on the price, got permission, and the bed was purchased.

When we brought it home, it took two men to carry the mattress into the house.  The box springs were two twin sized boxes because a king sized box springs will rarely make the tight corners and stairs in most homes these days.

Proud of our new bed, we set it up immediately.  We then realized that we didn’t have any sheets to fit the mattress.  So Christa went out and bought a set.  Well, two sets actually.  Did you know they’re more expensive than full or even queen sized sheets?  Oh, and we needed a blanket too.  And a comforter.  And a bed skirt.  Oh, and two king pillows (ours were only full sized pillows).  And a couple of decorative throw pillows too.  Oh yeah, and two wall hangings to match the comforter.  Our “free” bed ended up costing us several hundred dollars.

And this isn’t the first time we’ve done this routine.  We’ve done it while decorating other rooms in our homes as well.  We are so accustomed to having bigger & better and more of it that this process has become a habit.  We super-size our fries, we double-gulp our sodas, we upgrade our service, we increase our credit limit.  “More – more – more” is our mantra.

And guess what: we don’t really like our bed either.  It sleeps wonderfully!  But king sized beds don’t just fit in any bedroom.  We’re finding that out as we search for a home for our family here in Omaha.  King sized beds are more expensive.  The sheets and blankets are more expensive.  The comforters and bed skirts are more expensive.  The pillows are more expensive.  The bed frames are more expensive.  King sized beds are definitely more difficult to make.  Plus, Christa and I don’t cuddle with each other nearly as much as we used to because there’s so much real estate to spread out in.  Bigger is not always better.

As we were packing the moving truck to come here a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t long before I had the sinking feeling that we were going to need more than one truck.  Moving trucks are not cheap.  But the fuel is even worse!  Each truck had a 40 gallon diesel tank ($4.69 per gallon as I write this) and each truck got an average of 8.5 miles per gallon.  With three fill-ups per truck, we spent over $1100 on fuel alone to get here from Colorado Springs.  What did we move?

Ashamedly I began to count:

• 4 beds
• 8 end tables
• 2 desks
• 2 tables
• over 30 chairs
• 5 dressers
• etc, etc, etc

Keep in mind – there are only three in our family (one is a 2 year old) and we had a garage sale before we left selling even more furniture.  Did we really need this much “stuff”?  I brought boxes and boxes of books and dishes and tools and pictures and electronics and toys.  The list is ridiculous!  And, because we have yet to find a permanent home here and are staying with family until we do, we have rented storage units for our belongings – FIVE storage units, to be exact.  We’ve turned into bower birds.  Check this out:

Source: The most notable characteristic of bowerbirds is the extraordinarily complex behaviour of males, which is to build a bower to attract mates. Depending on the species, the bower ranges from a circle of cleared earth with a small pile of twigs in the center to a complex and highly decorated structure of sticks and leaves — usually shaped like a walkway, a small hut or a maypole — into and around which the male places a variety of objects he has collected. These objects — usually strikingly blue in hue — may include hundreds of shells, leaves, flowers, feathers, stones, berries, and even discarded plastic items or pieces of glass. The bird spends hours carefully sorting and arranging his collection, with each object in a specific place; if an object is moved while the bowerbird is away he will put it back in its place. No two bowers are the same, and the collection of objects reflects the personal taste of each bird and its ability to procure unusual and rare items (going as far as stealing them from neighboring bowers). At mating time, the female will go from bower to bower, watching as the male owner conducts an often elaborate mating ritual and inspecting the quality of the bower. Many females end up selecting the same male, and many under-performing males are left without mates.

Doesn’t this sound somewhat familiar?  We spend hours collecting and arranging our trinkets and baubles, making sure the throw pillow matches the comforter, making sure the china (which we never use) is arranged just right in the china cabinet, waxing our cars, polishing our trophies, cleaning bathrooms, dusting furniture, vaccuming carpets.  Is this Kingdom work?

Taking care of what God has given us is a must.  But accumulating things also takes up more and more of our time – time that could be much better spent doing things for His Kingdom.  The fact is, I’d rather Christa spend her time teaching and playing with Landon than cleaning and dusting.  I would rather spend my time with my family, studying Scripture and reading than shuffling papers, moving boxes and rearranging my bower.

This next move – from the storage sheds to the home we find – will be different.  If you decide to help us move, bring marshmallows.  There’s gonna be a bonfire!