Wednesday, April 28
“God was like an
eagle hovering over her nest, overshadowing her young, then spreading her
wings, lifting them into the air, teaching them to fly.” (Deuteronomy 32:11, The Message Bible, with my
own slight pronoun modification)
For the last who-knows-how-many
years, a mother robin has built her nest on top of an out-door speaker, right
near our back door, off the sun room. I don’t know if it is always the same
robin or the next generation, but she is there every year. It is rather awkward
for us and her as this is the door we use regularly and often in order to let
the dog out. At first, she is always quite flighty when the door opens and she takes
off immediately. But once she has her eggs under her or her chicks, she will
resolutely hunker down and do her best to ignore us.
Early in March, I decided that it
was time to break this nesting cycle. So, I took down the old, much-used nest. I
even slanted the speaker at an odd angle. I thought I had succeeded when I
thought I saw her building a nest in the massive cedar hedge behind us. But in mid-April,
suddenly and quickly, there was a new nest on the same speaker, angle and all,
and she was now brooding her eggs. She
glares at us when we go in and out, but she protects that nest and her
yet-to-be born chicks with utmost dedication, fearlessness and determination. I
have got to give her credit for her persistence and perseverance.
It has made me turn to passages
like the one from Deuteronomy where God’s Love and Care for us is compared to the protective oversight of a
mother bird, hovering, protecting, encouraging us to soar and teaching us to
trust in such a God as this so that we may take flight into the world.
“Even the sparrow finds a
home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your
altar…” (Psalm 84:3, New Living Translation)
The mother robin “knows” that there
are many risks and dangers in the world for her nest and her chicks. She has
reduced some of those risks in the choice where she had built her nest, safe from
predators like other birds, racoons and the like. She does everything in her power
to protect, nurture and raise her young.
Whether you are an eagle or a
sparrow, it is comforting to sense the compassionate care of God in our lives.
God knows there are risks, dangers, evils, predation and storms which make life
a challenge, to say the least. This pandemic has reminded us that humankind is
not invulnerable, all-knowing, omnipotent, or god-like. Yet, in spite of the
dangers we face from the pandemic or anything else, God alerts us to the
Presence of his Love, Compassion, Care and Benevolence through many signs and wonders.
God hovers over us in the presence of the heroics of front-line health-care
workers, or teachers on the job, or vaccines, or the compassion of neighbours
and family who seek out others and lend a helping hand.
“Look at the birds. They
don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them.
And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” (Matthew 6:26, NLT)
Well, aren’t you?
May God lift us all and teach us
to fly and soar, carried upon the breath of God’s Spirit and Love.
Dale
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