It seems to fit a lot of situations and it sounds sort of sophisticated and worldly-wise.
So we like to use it!
It reminds me of a poem by Robert Frost that I read many years ago: The Exposed Nest.
In this verse the poet finds his young daughter trying to save a group of baby birds after their nest was destroyed by a harvesting machine. She is trying to put the nest back together and move it to a secure place and to construct a grassy screen to shade the tiny birds from the harsh glare of the sun.
The poet paints such a detailed picture for us:
'Twas a nest full of young birds on the ground...
And left defenseless to the heat and light..
You wanted to restore them to their right..
And the way the tiny birds responded..
.
The way the nest-full every time we stirred
Stood up to us as to a mother-bird
Whose coming home has been too long deferred
And the consequences of this random act of kindness...
Made me ask would the mother-bird return
And care for them in a such a change of scene
And might meddling make her more afraid...
We saw the risk we took in doing good,
But dared not spare to do the best we could
Though harm should come of it, so built the screen
You had begun, and gave them back their shade.
All this to prove we cared.
The poem ends on a sad note, though, as Frost explains that after restoring the nest to a safe place and shading it from the glare of the sun, they never came back to see if the mother did return and care for her little ones. Maybe they still perished.
The poem is a moving description of compassion for the baby birds in their hour of danger, but also raises questions about whether such kindness is always wise and whether it does any good.
But what about the lines....We saw the risk we took in doing good....but dared not spare to do the best we could.....
Isn't that the way it really is? We can't just leave the baby birds. We have to do the best we can. I guess that is my prayer today. That if I encounter a problem, a need, a troubled person, a baby bird exposed to the hostile world, that I will just, with God's merciful eyes and gracious spirit, do the best I can, trusting God to complete the task.
If that is my prayer today, then it has to end with a prayer of thanksgiving that God Himself, knowing the consequences of sending His Son to this hostile world, to this stronghold of the enemy, would still do what had to be done to rescue us.
Not unintended consequences, in His plan, but fully intended consequences.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow....praise Him all creatures here below....
Long ago, even before He made the world,
God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy
and without fault in His eyes.
His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into
His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.
And this gave Him great pleasure.
So we praise God for the wonderful kindness He has poured
out on us because we belong to His dearly loved Son.
He is so rich in kindness that He purchased our freedom
through the blood of His Son, and our sins are forgiven.
God's secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ,
Designed long ago according to His good pleasure.
And this is His plan:
At the right time He will being everything together
Under the authority of Christ--everything in heaven and on earth.
Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God,
for He chose us from the beginning,
And all things happen, just as He decided long ago.
Ephesians 1 , NLT
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