I found this little banner at the Dollar Store the other day, and because I like flamingos, I bought it, not realizing it had a saying on it. When I unrolled it and read it, I laughed and hung it up outside as a decoration in my yard. It makes me smile when I look at it.
However, as I was contemplating the meaning, I saw that the most obvious meaning in a worldly sense means ‘to stand out from the crowd.’ It occurred to me that this could be offensive to some of the ‘pigeons’ out there who might choose to look at it negatively, but then I began to see a deeper meaning to it from a biblical perspective.
We are called to be “lights on a hill” to the lost—a bright light of God’s love for His creation. As ambassadors for Christ, how are we doing with that?
Are we being flamingos, not in the sense of our physical beauty and plumage or lack thereof, but inwardly separated out of the flock of humanity? Or are we hidden in the crowd, doing what they do in order to fit in and be like them so we can be accepted? We are called to be separate, a peculiar people unto the Lord. Again, as the "peculiar, set apart people" of God, how well are we doing with this?
The other thing I saw was that each flamingo was a different shade of pink—one dark, one medium, and one light. Skin color doesn’t matter to God for He made us all. We can look at the natural world around us and know that He likes variety and lots of it.
There are all kinds of lessons to be found in the natural world if we but have seeing eyes and hearing ears.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15:46
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Romans 1:20
