Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Luke 12:22-24
“What is that noise?” asked my youngest a couple months ago.
There was a crazy banging sound coming from outside, and it was time for an investigation to ensue. I figured that the wind must have caused something to flap back and forth creating the ruckus. I’d take care of it and get back to my day.
What a surprise I received after realizing the flapping wasn’t created from the wind at all. As I was going down the steps under the house, I had a direct line of sight to a struggling bird. It definitely didn’t belong in our gutter, and it was stuck!
That poor bird was in a panic, and my first thought was how it might not survive the stress it was under even if it wasn’t physically hurt. I knew the quicker we acted, the better the chances were of it getting through the ordeal.
With eyes as big as saucers, it took my oldest a second to understand what he was seeing. The next thing I knew he was taking action. Since he’s taller than me, it was up to him to get the bird. I wasn’t sure what response the bird would have, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t say, “Oh, sweet human, so good of you to come to my rescue. Now that I know you’ve arrived, let me be very still and allow you to help me.”
Having that thought run through my head, I made my oldest grab a pair of gloves before trying to get the bird. I handed him the scissors, and he had quite the job trying to maneuver the little one out of the gutter while cutting around netting that the poor thing got caught in. I didn’t even know there was any netting there!
I was relieved when I saw him bringing the bird down. It was my turn to take over the scissors while Mr. Hero kept holding the bird. There was quite the tangled mess to work through, and I knew it was going to take a few minutes to get it all sorted out.
Looking back, the bird probably would have preferred silence as I was working, but instead it got a one-sided conversation by me. I didn’t even realize I was treating it as I would a spooked horse until thinking back on it later.
It amazed me how the bird responded to me with such kindness and respect. That bird gave me it’s full attention with such dignity! I mean, it was a bit trapped, but still…we could all learn something from that.
Those tiny eyes locked onto me while I snipped, unraveled, and kept talking in a slow, quiet voice. I think the reassurances were for me as much as for the bird.
I kept thinking how that bird was in shock because it wasn’t even trying to move as I was face to face cutting around its beak and feet. It just kept watching me and letting me maneuver it however I needed to. I’ll never forget the focus it felt like I was receiving. I can still see those eyes!
When all of the netting was removed from the bird, I directed my oldest to an area that wasn’t completely out in the open. I told him to gently put the bird on the grass and walk away. Honestly, I thought it was all too much for the bird by its lack of movement. It seemed to have completely given up any type of fight, but I was hoping that once we gave it space, it would eventually come around.
Mr. Hero knelt on the ground and opened his hands to set the bird down. Before the bird even touched the ground, we had liftoff, startling both of us humans! What just happened? It took no time at all to recover; it just started flying directly from his hands! How could it have gone from completely calm to moving with mighty speed?
I got to thinking that there just might be some pretty good lessons in our adventure that day. First, there really isn’t anything good that can come from worrying. Most of the time what we’re worrying about doesn’t ever happen. If we do find ourselves in a predicament, do we really want to use what we’ve come up with as the final solution?
The bird made me realize that God can take a situation that could have ended up with completely different results and have the perfect solution lined up without any help at all from humans and our worries. If He could make sure that we were home, heard the bird, were able to free it, and that it didn’t suffer any injuries with how badly it was trapped and struggling, don’t you think He lines up some pretty good solutions?
Do you want to trust your worrying to get you out of tricky situations or God’s unlimited mercy and grace? I think I’d prefer to go with the One who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Sounds like a solid plan to me, and makes me think of the Quecreek Mine Rescue from 2002 and everything God already had in place.
The second lesson was recognizing that we can survive the stress we find ourselves going through. That bird was stronger than I realized. We are too.
Finally, I can’t forget those eyes looking at me during the rescue. What seemed like absolute focus. Lesson number three…keep the focus off the problem and on the rescuer. Our Rescuer. I challenge you to do that today.
