Bullies

With several feeders kept filled with a wide variety of seeds, birds enjoy the bounty on our property. There is plenty for all, but the proud blue jays think they have preeminence and don’t share except with their kind. They always force other birds away until they’ve had their fill, that is until a woodpecker arrives. He doesn’t make the jay leave, only calls his bluff. But the proud jay flees every time while the woodpecker lets other birds feast with him.

In the pecking order, the bigger and more aggressive bully their way to the top by "pecking" others into submission. This pecking order exists with animals, fowl, God’s other creatures, and sadly, with people. But God holds us accountable for our actions; those who puff themselves up thinking their skills, abilities, intellect makes them supreme over others are not. Yet, they bully their way through life as though they are. Paul admonishes us not to do anything out of selfish ambition or conceit. Instead, serve with humility like Jesus: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves” (Philippians 2:3). One day there will be an accounting; not one of us is more important than another. God created us equal, and we should treat each other as such—with love and respect.