I love birds, small or large, they are just fabulous. Hummingbirds are my ABSOLUTE favorite but that is beside the point here.
I love the passage of scripture from Psalms 84:3&4 --- Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, Even thine altars, O Jehovah of hosts, My King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: They will be still praising thee. Selah
How many times I have pondered that verse. Building my nest in the house of the Lord..... it is a beautiful passage.
When we first moved to Helena there was a family of birds that hatched on a deep overhanging branch right at eye level. They didn't seem to mind us close and watching them. We watched the birds feed their young and we marveled at the chicks as they cried and peeped for their parents to return. It seemed their stomachs were never full! It kept the parents really hustling to find enough to satisfy their chicks. In just a few days, however, we were disappointed to find the babies had left the nest. I should say all but one had left the nest. He sat in the nest and cried and peeped for his parents to return, for things to go on as they were. He wanted to remain where he was safe, where he knew what surrounded him, where he was fed and tended. His parents knew however that he was already the fattest little chick you can imagine and that it was time to step out. Courage was required; he had to fling himself from the nest and learn to hop, and hunt, and fly.
We watched him for several hours as he pondered his decision. Finally after hearing his parents calling him many times he courageously set forth. The nest was fully empty. There would be no more reason for the birds to return there. They left together, flitting about, looking for bugs and flying short spurts to teach the babies and build their strength and endurance.
The nest looked so empty. The nest looked so bare and uncomfortable. We talked about how the momma bird knows to empty the nest of what makes it comfortable as the days approach when the babies need to make that jump. She removes the down she plucked to warm the eggs, she removes the grass and bits of soft padding she has found. She exposes the sticks and twigs. The nest becomes a very hard place, a very uncomfortable place..........
Maybe the Lord is doing the same for us. I am not brave; I don't even try to pretend I am. I like things steady and constant, predictable and well-scheduled. However, as I look about, I see our worldly nest is getting pretty uncomfortable. The things that seemed sure are disappearing. The world is not the same place it was even 10 years ago much less 20, 30 or 50 years ago. The things that are exposed are hard and difficult; they are really starting to pinch.
Maybe the Lord is helping us to have the courage to see that this really is not our home, that He has something better. When the nest gets uncomfortable my courage is prodded. When the nest becomes uncomfortable I become more watchful and I see beyond the nest -- there is a much bigger reality than what I know and see from my nest. I need to be ready to go when we are called. What we have known is such a shadow of what He has for us but it takes courage to be willing to leave. I think I am almost ready to learn to fly...........
But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Luke 21:28
