This morning we almost had a lesson on the circle of life at our house. We saw new life, almost saw death and heard a lot of screaming in the process. I guess I should be more clear, huh?
A few weeks back a pair of little sparrows decided to set up housekeeping in our garage. To make matters worse, they fell in love with a little one bedroom cardboard box that sits right outside the door that goes into the house. It's a lovely little starter home, but the heavy traffic makes it a less than ideal location. Nevertheless, it was in their price range so they bought it and moved right in. It wasn't long before there were, not one, but two little eggs in the nest in the cardboard box. The other drawback to their urban location was the fact that every night the garage door closed, and if they weren't careful, this would leave their little eggs unprotected and unwarmed all night long.
It was bound to happen, and one night, it finally did. The garage door closed with neither little bird home to sit the nest. I was sure the eggs would never survive. Still, mama was tenacious and continued to warm what I thought were eggs now suitable only for a very small omelet.
After all of these tragic happenings, imagine my surprise this morning when we discovered a tiny little naked, nasty looking (just being honest here!) alien type thing emerging from one of the eggs! Actually, J is the one who discovered it. He had left the door to the garage open as he was calling to me to come see it. As I walked towards the door a little brown blur flew past me at the speed of sound, or so. Mama bird had seen the open door, thought J was a threat and had tried to escape- by flying into my house!
We all calmly set into motion, a carefully constructed plan to throw a blanket over her and take her back outside when the unthinkable happened. Koko, the wonder cat, chose that moment to wander downstairs. It didn't take long for him to, in an amazingly ninja cat like movement catch mama bird for us. Unfortunately, he used his mouth to do it! That's when things became really interesting, interesting and loud, and also pretty crazy.
As Koko tried to run from the room with his prize, Mumbles was laughing, as loudly as only a teenage boy can. J was yelling at the top of his very impressively developed voice, as only an irate dad of teenage boys can, and I was running around trying to figure out what in the world was going on! Koko, meanwhile, decided that being chased by a family of crazy people while trying to hold on to a crazed, flapping ball of feathers, was not actually his cup of tea. Who knew?! Thankfully, Koko let her go.
We still haven't figured out what happened next. Mama bird vanished, simply disappeared. We searched high and low with no luck. I was sure she has rolled away somewhere to gasp her last breath through her trembling little beak, never to see the ugly little face of her newly hatched baby. After searching forever, we gave up hoping she had managed to escape through the door we had left open. About an hour later, however, I heard a strange noise from upstairs. It was the sound of a tiny, but frantic battle ensuing. Mama bird had, somehow, found her way upstairs to Mumbles room and was now being pursued by Yum-Yum, the less than ninja like cat. Fortunately, Yum-Yum, while gorgeous, is old, cross-eyed and the most exercise he gets in a day is when he is forced to leave Mumble's room and amble down the hall to his food dish. It wasn't very likely he was actually going to catch little mama but when, in her panic, she allowed herself to be cornered, I thought for sure it was all over. I scooped him up, or at least as much as you can scoop a very large, very excited lump of fur and banished him from the room. I then opened all the windows that didn't have screens in his room, went out and shut the door and hoped for the best.
I don't know if mama made it out or not. I can't find her and she hasn't turned back up in the garage that I have seen. I thought about putting out an APB on her or filing a missing birdy report, but I doubt the effectiveness of either of these measures. So now, I'll just wait and pray, and hope mama comes home to her new babies. It's harder than heck to find foster homes for the little suckers!
Now comes the other part of the story. If you have ever read anything I've ever written, you knew to expect there was one! lol
This is the deal, mama bird was in no danger from J, the danger was only her perception. She panicked and flew the wrong way and got herself into a world of hurt. How many times have we been guilty of the same reaction? I know there have been times when the enemy has been close enough to say "boo" and I reacted the same way. I went tearing off in fear, not stopping to think or really examine the situation. If I had, I would have been reminded by the Holy Spirit that I had nothing to fear from the enemy of my soul. He is an already vanquished foe, but you'd never know it by the way I tucked tail and ran!
We could all learn a lesson from little mama bird. She let fear take hold and she flew right into danger. When faced with, what seems like a terrifyingly dangerous situation, let's take the time to check in with the Holy Spirit before running headlong into something much worse. I don't blame mama, she reacted by instinct, but what are the instincts we are living by? Do we panic or do we trust? Do we let fear overtake our hearts or do we run, not blindly in terror, but into the strong tower of the Lord? Proverbs 18:10 tell us,
"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run in to it and are safe".
As children of the Lord, we are called his righteousness so that means us! We have a place to run when faced with the scary, sometimes dangerous things life can throw at us. The word tells us in 1 Peter 4:12-13
" Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's suffering, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."
So you can see there will be times in life when we will need that strong tower to run into. When those times hit, I pray there will be no wild rush to try to secure our own safety, but a quiet assurance that he has our back, he is our protector and our refuge and there's no need to panic. That's a truth we will all do well to learn. That is my challenge to both you and to myself this week. We all know the Lord "has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind". Despite, what you may have heard being reported in the liberal media lately, I do, indeed, have a sound mind. I'm just not sure where it went, but wherever it is, I can assure you, it is sound. So, dear readers, when faced with fear, run! but be sure you're running to Him and not just plain running.
Meanwhile, I'll be here, sweeping up feathers, putting the cats in time out and knitting tiny little baby bird booties. I think mama might be registered at Birds R Us, but I'll check with her and let you all. Till next time, I am......
Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor
UPDATE: Mama is back on her nest and she and both babies are doing just fine! I guess it's true, His eye really is on the sparrow!
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