Bird By Bird (Sermon Illustration)

Have you ever been paralyzed by how overwhelming something in life can be?

You look at the sheer size of the obstacle in front of you, and think, “It’s impossible! There’s no way I can do all of this.”

I think we’ve all been there:

• The relationship is too broken.
• The debt is too big.
• The person is too far gone.

Author, Anne Lamott, in her book Bird by Bird talks about the seemingly impossible task of writing a book, the years of writing and rewriting thousands of words hoping it all makes sense in the end.

When her writing students feel overwhelmed, she tells them this story from her childhood:

Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

The obstacle in front of you may seem impossible to you. But if it’s what God called you to do, it’s not impossible. You can do it.

You’re overwhelmed because you are looking too much at the whole thing. You just have to take it bird by bird, one step at a time.

Don’t think about all the steps. What’s the next step? Focus on doing that.

Like Anne’s father, God will put his arm around your shoulder and help you focus on just the next step.

And before you know it, perhaps sooner than you imagined it was ever possible, you’ll look up and realize that you’ve overcome your obstacle.

—

Source: Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anchor, 1995), 18-19.

Find more sermon illustrations here.