Bye Bye Birdie

This morning as I was doing my devotions in the living room, I heard a loud thump and looked up just in time to see a bird fall to the ground after flying into the window. I quickly ran outside to see if it was alright.

It was alive and just sitting next to a bush where it had fallen. I reached out to see if it would fly away, but it just sat there silently. I pet it for a bit and then picked it up to take it inside. Did you know that if you look in a bird's mouth you can see its vocal chords? Well, you can. And its little vocal chords were moving, but there were no sounds coming out.

I took it inside and made a little makeshift nest in a box. Then I called my mother. My grandma and my mom both have quite a bit of experience with raising baby birds that have fallen out of their nests (some of you may remember Einstein, who actually turned out to be a female...). In fact, they're raising one right now that they have named CeCe (which is apparently the ugliest baby bird they've ever seen and they're not sure what it is).

Anyway, I called her and asked her opinion on what to do. She wisely told me that it would probably be best to try to drip some water in its mouth and then take it outside and sit with it because it was probably just stunned and would fly away in a few minutes. We talked for a bit longer and then I decided to take her advice. I went to the box to get the little bird out, but when I reached in to pick it up, it chirped and flew away! Inside the house!

It flew all over and each time it ran into a cupboard or wall, I would cringe as I tried to think of how I could help it find its way out. I spent the next 30 minutes or so attempting to catch it or coax it out of one of the doors (I had turned off all the lights and opened every door) without giving it a heart attack. Ironically enough, I didn't catch it until it flew into a window and was momentarily stunned. I took it outside as quickly as possible and it anxiously flew away.

In the aftermath of this exciting event, I saw a very interesting parallel. Countless times, we run into obstacles in life that knock the wind out of us. We sit there stunned as God reaches out to hold us and help us. But once we finally recover from the shock of life gone wrong, we try to fly from the hand that wishes only to help us. We refuse his aid and often hurt ourselves more in the process of trying to find our way.