“The Pigeon vs. the Dove: Learning the Sensitivity of the Spirit”
I’ve never been a real lover of birds until recently. Let me explain. As a vet, I never know what kind of pet will be behind the next exam room door. In my first years of practice (early 80’s) I never did very well with birds. It’s not that I didn’t particularly have affection for them but I just didn’t know much about them. Vet school majored on creatures with hair not feathers. Birds don’t usually act sick until they are half-dead and most of them are hypersensitive so with that combination I had many die in my hands as soon as I took them out of their cages. More times than not there was a child standing there watching just after their parents assured them that I would be able to save their precious Tweedy. My partner in practice had similar experiences so as soon as God blessed us with an associate he was given the job of taking care of all the patients with feathers. So for over twenty-five years I’ve completely ignored birds until recently. My new found affection and observation of birds started this spring. On a random Thursday morning (5/22/08) I pulled out of my driveway heading to Panera Bread to pick up some cinnamon crunch bagels. I remember exactly where I was on Wentworth Drive when a guest of James Dobson on his Focus on the Family radio show was telling a story about a dove. R.T. Kendall was retelling a story in his book ‘Sensitivity of the Spirit’ about a missionary couple who had moved to Jerusalem. Living in a nest built in the eave of their upstairs flat was a beautiful turtledove. They began to notice that every time they raised their voices or there was the slightest disturbance whatsoever the dove would fly away. It would take her a long time, sometimes days, to come back. As long as things were quiet and peaceful she would stay right there. The couple loved having her there in view-she was so beautiful and peaceful. One day the husband asked his wife if she wanted the dove to stay. Of course she responded affirmatively. He quickly replied, “Then we are going to have to adjust our lives to her because she is not going to adjust her life to us.” Dr. Kendall went on to explain that the dove in this story is the perfect analogy to the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit is unchangeable- we will have to learn to adjust our lives to Him because He will never adjust His life to us. Kendall described some characteristics of the dove and then went on to compare the dove to pigeons, both members of the same bird family they are anatomically exactly the same but in every other way completely different. As the dove represents the Holy Spirit in us the pigeon represents the counterfeit Holy Spirit or our flesh. The analogy was so powerful that by this time I’m sitting in the parking lot of Panera Bread hanging on every word. Now remember I’m not fond of birds but this analogy caught my attention. This was definitely a message I needed to hear. It bounced around in my head for two days and then that Saturday I was prompted to get on the computer and learn more details of pigeons and doves. I wrote some very “rough bullet notes” which I’ll interject at this point. You’ll see that this story just continues to write itself with no effort on my part. Excuse any repetition of what’s already been said.
‘The Pigeon vs. The Dove’ (5/24/08)
· Both are members of the family Columbidae/ are used somewhat interchangeably although they are very different.
· Pigeons: domesticated, in cities, parks, ugly-vile-they take over, scavengers, In NYC called “flying rats”-eat junk! Become a daunting adversary for most cities, a nuisance; they love noise and will crawl over you to get food-they will eat anything!
· Doves: in the New Testament symbolic of the Holy Spirit, they are wild and are the symbols of peace; quite differently they eat only seeds and fruit-they will not eat junk; they will fly away with the least bit of noise or disturbance; they are very sensitive, tender and gentle; will not readily descend on someone and if they did would fly away immediately with the slightest movement or noise.
· Analogy spiritually: The ungrieved Holy Spirit is the dove-you are walking in His fruit (of the Spirit) when He is not grieved- present with you-like Him descending down upon you. The moment you grieve Him He flies away. The sinful thought, the sinful word, anything not of Him- any act of the flesh or evil He leaves you. He is tender, gentle…easily moved by the least wrong. When He is present you are walking in constant peace, joy…on the other hand the pigeon will light on you and you can’t get him to leave. Pigeon-religion- not the real thing. It’s the counterfeit Holy Spirit. Looks like a dove but not the real thing. A pigeon in dove’s clothing.
· I heard this analogy on Focus on the Family- R.T. Kendall 5/22/08. I ordered a book of his so maybe it will give more insight. I’d like to do a lesson with this analogy-cultural Christians vs. followers of Christ or counter-cultural Christians. The South is full of pigeons and doves. The doves are shot for sport and the pigeons are fed in the park. Isn’t this interesting?? The pigeons are getting fatter and fatter-eating junk, anything, filth, refuge, dirty stuff, they don’t care-they are pigeons-anatomically and scientifically just like doves cut culturally and socially totally and completely different.
· How many times a day do I grieve the Holy Spirit in me? How many times does my personal dove have to leave me (not physically leave me because He can never leave or forsake me but He can withdraw the blessing (by-products) of His presence-the fruit-love, joy, peace, etc. What is worth losing those for even a moment? When will we learn to quit grieving Him as we do? He has feelings…He is a person… I’ve never thought of Him like this before. The gift of the Holy Spirit-an alive invisible person living in me filling me up constantly with His fruit when I’m not grieving Him.
· My verse for the year (2008) is Psalm 16:8-“Because the Lord is at my right hand, I will not be moved.” There are many verses about not being shaken or moved. When we choose to be moved or shaken (mentally/emotionally) meaning we are choosing to think with the mind of the flesh the dove flies away. We have grieved Him and He has to leave. He is inactivated in us. The fruit is gone. It’s so easy to grieve Him- to bring Him sorrow. He is a person-the invisible person of the Trinity-the Holy Spirit living in me. Oh, how I act like He is not around sometimes. I grieve Him over and over but the Father is so merciful over and over that He keeps restoring me. I don’t want to grieve Him anymore. Father, make me more aware of your Holy Spirit’s presence moment by moment.
· To get the dove to descend upon you you must be quiet and still for a long time. A few seconds won’t do. It must become a way of life for you. The still is in your mind. No more striving (Psalm 46:10). You must want companionship and fellowship with the dove more than with people. You’ll never please the dove and the world. The dove won’t come into a crowded out loud heart. Peace be still. Intimacy with the dove requires silence of the soul.
· Most of your friends are satisfied with “pigeon-religion” because they have never experienced the dove. One minute with the dove will change your life. You will become addicted to His peace and nothing else will ever satisfy. You will become homesick for heaven. Pigeon worshippers think they have the real deal. It’s like Coke Zero. But it’s not the real thing. Pigeon religion is a deadly substitute. “Depart from me, I never knew you…Oh, that you would be hot or cold- because you are lukewarm I am about to spew you out of my mouth!” That literally means vomit.
· ***5/26/08 - I wrote the above bullet points this weekend at the beach after hearing R.T. Kendall’s message on Thursday. This morning (Monday) I walk out of my side door and guess what is sitting on the top of Taylor’s car roof- a beautiful dove! Another was on the top of the garage roof. They immediately flew away when they heard me. I get to work and guess what’s in the first cage in our CCW – a pigeon with the following note attached to the cage:
Dear Dr. Griffin,
I got hit by a satellite truck in Columbia, South Carolina. I got stuck to the air conditioning intake on top of the truck and was trapped there, spread pigeon, for 400 miles until the driver finally stopped in Montgomery for the night and pulled me loose. Someone told me YOU could help me so he brought me here. PLEASE don’t let me die now. My leg needs to be fixed. Help me. Please!
Pigeon
· The resilience of this pigeon illustrates the perfect analogy to out flesh. IT IS HARD TO KILL!! Our flesh is strong-it lines right up with the enemy every time. Our flesh or carnal nature will always be with us to some degree. We are born into this Adamic nature- the only remedy is to invite the Holy Spirit to come in and take over and little by little begin to slay the flesh every time it rises up. It will scream to be rescued just like this pigeon in the above true story. Please fix me!! It doesn’t die easy. You just can’t pray it away-you must war against it constantly as an act of your will. “I have been crucified with Christ”…”take up your cross daily”…”die to yourself”… the examples in Scripture are endless. The battle rages…the “war” as described in Galatians 5. But praise God that “greater is He who is in you” so that you can win this war moment by moment IF YOU CHOOSE TO FIGHT. The dove is worth it!! The dove and the pigeon won’t co-exist.
As I’ve retyped the above bullet points from over six months ago I’m still amazed how God has orchestrated every detail concerning this pigeon/dove story. I’m seeing some things that I missed in May. With any analogy or parable the Holy Spirit will give each individual specific insight for them. I started out saying it was a random Thursday- with God nothing is random. That Thursday just happened to be 5/22. For those who are accustomed to my teaching 5:22 is huge to me. It represents the Spirit- from Galatians 5:22, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc..” My husband and I set our alarm clock for 5:22 each morning. It’s a visual reminder that we can choose to get up and feed our Spirit or hit the snooze and continue to feed the flesh (which may be screaming to go back to sleep). Now you’ve got to just know God was showing off when He allowed me to see the two dove and then the pigeon back to back on that Monday morning after writing on that Saturday after hearing the radio show on the Thursday. I’ve been in that practice for 37 years (counting working as a teenager) and never before has there ever been a pigeon brought in. When I read the note from the pigeon to Dr. Griffin I knew that I would be writing a pet parable about it one day. After writing that I desired to do a teaching lesson on it one day I was ask exactly one month later to speak at a ladies ministry function. I started watching for doves in the neighborhood and actually got a few photos for the PowerPoint. Learning their sensitivity by watching them is so much more powerful than just reading about them. The “Firebranded Women” ministry function was scheduled for November 8th and I still needed to watch and take photos of some pigeons. I just happened to accompany my husband in October for the Chicago Marathon and there I was surrounded by as many pigeons as runners. Observing them interacting with one another was priceless. Unlike the doves that are not territorial and never fought each other the pigeons were incredibly territorial and defensive. They would attack each other for no apparent reason. The analogy was just cemented into me after spending time observing both birds. Maybe I’m weird but this analogy just works for me. By learning the sensitivity of the Dove I am learning to be more sensitive to the Dove. I’m slowly learning to adjust my life to Him as He will never adjust His to me. Remember that for years I got away with ignoring the creatures with feathers. This dog and cat loving vet has fallen in love with the Dove. I’m learning to stay as far away from “pigeon religion” as possible. Fall in love with the Dove. He is worth it!!
Ann Allen Salter
December 9, 2008
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