Feeding the Birds

I just came in from having my devotional time in the back yard. In the spring, before it gets too hot and after the cold weather has abated, I love sitting in the hammock swing in the morning to spend time with the Lord. Those of you who know me know I'm an avid bird feeder. I have bird feeders hung all around my yard. And the bird activity is relaxing and fun to watch.

While I sat in the swing this morning, praying and worshipping, I watched and listened to the birds. They were singing and chirping all around me. I've learned to recognize some of their calls. So I know when there is a cardinal coming into the yard to feed. They always announce their arrival. And, sure enough, shortly after I heard him I saw the bright red bird streak past me to one of the feeders.

I have a pair of Carolina Wrens nesting in a flower pot on my back porch. It's amazing how loud the song of that tiny little brown bird is! She was busy darting back and forth around the yard. Stopping on the lattice work around my patio gathering insects.

When I walked out to the swing I almost got run over by a robin that was flying through the yard gathering material for the nest she is building in the elbow of one of the drain pipes on our gutters. I watched her fly back and forth with her beak filled each time with long strands of dried grass she got from the neighbor's yard behind us.

The house finches, four or five of them at a time, sat on the feeders eating, flew into a nearby Crepe Myrtle tree to eat the seeds, letting another group of four or five get to the feeders, and then that group would fly away and the original group would come back.

Finally, there were the little black capped chickadees. They come to the feeder, take one seed, hold it in their claws, and tap tap tap it with their beak until they crack the husk open and get the seed inside. It almost gives me a headache watching them jack hammer the shell with their beaks.

Psalm 84:2-3 says, "My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young — a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God." NIV

And I think of Luke 12:6-7 "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." NIV

I thought about those of you who have been through our home, and those of you who are in Iraq. And I prayed and sang to the Lord. I thought about sharing this on my blog and wondered if anyone would even care about my talking about my birds. Then the thought occurred to me, what if a soldier in Iraq were to find this post and read it. Perhaps reading about my birds would bring back memories of home, and provide just a little bit of peace in the dessert. So I wrote.