Tag: birds

One of My Regrets

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When I was a young teenager, one of my hobbies was shooting birds in the rural area in which I lived. I would roam the fields and woods, BB gun or bow and arrow in hand, looking for my next prey.

I regret that aspect of my mispent youth. 

I especially regret it when I sit on my back deck and watch the activity at the feeders, the birdbath and the houses I built for our little feathered friends. I love to watch them come and go, feeding their little ones, and I feel mighty sad when I find a fallen one in our yard.

It all brings to mind some words from Jesus in Matthew 10:29 (see the end of the blog for the context): 

Not one of these little creatures falls to earth apart from our Father.

That verse has often been mistranslated as not one of them falls to earth apart from our Father’s will or permission. That’s not what it says.

God didn’t commission me to kill the birds for sport. Not God’s will.

God did not give his permission for that little one to fall from the sky or a tree branch.

God didn’t want that to happen. God loves his creation, God nourishes his creation, but things happens. 

In this scripture from Matthew, Jesus is assuring his disciples that God’s presence never leaves us or any of his creation. No matter what happens to us, God is with us and for us. He loves us so very much, and we are assured of his loving presence moment by moment.

God is good. God is faithful. God will continue to work in even the worst situations for our own and creation’s good.

By the way, though I continued my evil ways for some time, I began doing funerals for the little guys. I would bury them and say a few words over them. Perhaps it was the beginning of God’s work in me to become a pastor, bringing life and not death to the flock God gave me.

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Matthew 10 context:

Jesus is speaking of the trials that the disciples will face in the days ahead.

28 “Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.

29-31 “What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries. (Message Version)

THIS ONE’S FOR THE BIRDS…..AND OTHERS

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As I have written, my wife loves birds and cares immensely for the little ones. But there is one thing that she doesn’t do. She does not let the birds into our house. 

I recall Ed and Marie, members of a church I once pastored. They let birds into their home. They loved birds. They rescued birds. People brought them wounded birds. The first time I visited them I noticed all their furniture was covered with plastic. Birds were flying around the house. These weren’t just parakeets. There was even a seagull in the mix. They were pooping all over the place. I chose my seat carefully and tried not to breathe in too deeply. Some would say that Ed and Marie were not living in healthy conditions but they loved the birds. They didn’t have children and needless to say, they didn’t have many visitors. But I loved them for their concern, and yes, visited again.

We read in Psalm 84 that in God’s house, his Temple, even the ‘sparrows found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may have her young- a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God.’ (Verse 3 NIV)

The Apostle Paul wrote that we are the Temple of God’s Spirit- it’s where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit live. So am I the place that welcomes others in Christ’s name? Is my life that place?  Together we are to be a sacred place for all people. Jesus said that God’s house is a place for prayer for all people. It’s within that sacred space of our hearts and minds that others find God and love and acceptance. But I confess that my heart is not always a place for all people. There are some I let in and others I keep out. Some say it’s good to have boundaries so that you don’t have poop all over your house but what I have done is build a moat to keep others’ kingdoms from encroaching upon mine.

I know who the people are in my life that are ‘outside’ and just maybe by the grace of God someday I will put in a bridge with a welcome sign on my little door. We’ll see. I just don’t want to have to cover the place in plastic. May God rest the precious souls of Marie and Ed and all their little bird friends.

NEVER APART FROM OUR HEAVENLY FATHER

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My wife loves to sit at our kitchen table and watch the birds bathe, eat, feed their young, and flit from tree to bush to the sky as they delight in their lives. And sometimes they have been observed ‘meeting their maker’.

It put me in mind of words from Jesus to the disciples as he assured them of God’s care for each of their lives:

“29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Matthew 10 (ESV)

The point is that God does not send these little creatures spiraling to the earth any more than he purposely would send us into harm’s way. Rather, we are told time and time again as the old song goes, “He’s got the whole world in his hands.” God is in all the details, circumstances, coincidences, joys, and sorrows of our lives.

We are NEVER outside of God’s loving care. As the Apostle Paul once said, ‘In Him, we live and move and have our being.’ Acts 17 When you or I see suffering in this life and care so deeply about what happens to soldiers in war, shooting victims and their families, helpless children, the sick, the homeless … please know that our Father cares more than we do and his heart breaks more than ours. And God will act, is acting, through any possible means, to bring his love to bear in the form of healing, justice, and redemption.

In the meantime, we wait and keep faith knowing that there is not a moment when we are outside the life and love of our heavenly Father. That truth revealed through the Bible gives us the mission to live this life as the agents, the missionaries of God’s love to a hurting world until the Kingdom comes in all its fullness.