Sunday, July 5, 2009

learn to fly



last week my husband and i began work on a new deck outside. (of course when i say 'my husband and i', i really mean a contractor and his team...)  as we started pulling the old, rotting deck apart we found a birds nest underneath the floor boards, perched safely on top of one of the thick heavy log beams.  there were 4 tiny little featherless babies inside.  we watched for a couple of days as the mom came and went, and the dad too i might add, bringing food and cuddling with the little ones inside the nest.  we had a perfect vantage point from the window as there was now no deck to block our view.  one of those days was particularly stormy.  the wind literally howled and blew and the rain soaked the ground.  a perfect summer thunder storm.  during the storm i watched the nest, as the mom sat faithfully in it protecting her little babies.  but even when she flew off for food, the little baby birds remained safe in that nest.  (except when my cat crept out onto the remaining deck framework and tried to scoop them out of the nest! don't worry i scared her off)  i was reminded of Psalm 91:4

..."He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart." (a rampart is a defense or barricade)

Jesus is my protector. my provider. Jehovah Jireh.  through every storm i've encountered he has been my shield.  Psalm 119:140 says "...your promises have been thoroughly tested and your servant loves them!" (exclamation point mine).  he promises to protect and to provide and he comes through every time.  and i have no doubt that in the next storm, he'll be faithful to pull me thru again.  wether it's a short summer thunder storm, or a winter blizzard!

well, what to do about the birds? we had no choice but to move the nest.  i looked all over online for advice on whether or not you should/could move a birds nest.  will the mom return? will the babies die? everything i read said don't move it!  they'll die!  if you want to be guilty of killing little baby birds...move the nest.  wow.  harsh.  so i actually labored over this decision for like, a day.  then my friend and i put on some gloves, rubbed the gloves in the dirt to, you know, get the human smell off of them, and i got up on a chair and lifted the nest off of it's post.  i just held it for a while.  the birds were tiny, featherless little things.  i could feel them breathing and moving through the bottom of the nest.  i marveled at the construction of the nest and the creatures inside it.  after one of the construction guys built us a little bird house (fastest bird house ever assembled i think, literally a few minutes).  the bird house was nailed to a tree and i set the nest inside it.  i watched from the window again for a while, waiting to see if the mom would come back.  less than an hour later she did.  i was really glad because i read somewhere that the mom's basically do nothing but go look for food and then feed the babies every 15 minutes or so.  my kids are teenagers and i'm not looking to go back to the baby stage again.  but i digress....

fast forward a few days... the birds flew the coop saturday morning, July 4th.  the day we celebrated the freedom we have as a country, they celebrated their new found freedom by learning to fly!  i'm grateful that God allows us to see his character in these little ways, like watching nature, his creation by the way.   i'm grateful for the freedom he has granted us in him.  i'm grateful for his protection and provision in my life.

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