Better than a Mother Bird

I visited my parents today. As my mother potted plants and weeded flower beds, she pointed out the baby birds that were living in one of her flower pots. My daughter had been watching them emerge from their eggs and begin to grow. Just a few days after hatching, one of the babies had begun to hop out of the pot every time someone approached.

Today my girl lifted the ivy to see the birds, and the largest one hopped right to the ground and started leap-flying across the yard. We placed it back in the nest several times, and then we gave up. The largest baby bird had left the nest, and he wasn’t going back.

All day, those birds have been on my mind, and I just couldn’t figure out why. Finally, it became clear. I feel like I’ve left the nest over the last few months. First a rumor of a major and frightening virus coming, then the virus arrives, then the whole world changed in a matter of weeks. Everything was different and scary, and like the baby bird, I felt like I was a fledgling in a new land, flailing around with half my feathers falling out!

We watched the bird for a long time. We wondered, would the mother feed it? Would it be able to hop back into the flower pot and return to the nest? Would it survive in the new environment without its mother? As we watched, our questions were answered.

The mother bird continuously talked to her baby. She was singing, tweeting a warning, flitting about to wherever he was and trying to help him. The other birds were safe in the nest they had always known, but he was in new territory. Dangerous territory that included predators and confusion, and a lady who isn’t too fond of birds in her flower pots. Mama bird did something I had never seen, other than on TV.

As she moved around above him in a tree, watching him, she carried a worm. When we got out of her way, she flew down to baby bird and fed him. She then tried to lead him back toward the nest by hopping and chattering loudly. At last, he followed..

We went home happy to have witnessed the bird with its mother, and I continued to think about it all day. I thought of the fear the little bird exhibited and the frantic flopping and attempts to fly. When mama came to the rescue, he was calm and quiet and waited for her direction. I then thought of the world right now. Aren’t we all like baby birds leaving the nest? It’s a new world, and it feels we cannot return to life before.

Our normal has been stripped away. We have already spent part of this year without many of the comforts we are used to. We have been and will be alone in many ways. The loneliness and the isolation and the loss of all our routines and habits feels large and frightening. We miss our brothers and sisters, parents, friends. It feels much like we are tiny birds trying to find our way in the tall grass of this new place and time.

I do have hope and assurance in the Lord during this uncertain time. I take comfort in the words of the psalmist, David:

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.”

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.

He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” (Psalm 91:1-4 NKJV)

Much stronger than a mother bird, the Lord watches over me, he is right beside me, he is always providing for my good. If sickness comes, or if I sit by the bed of a loved one, if I feel I can’t move forward in this scary new world, he will be my refuge. In him I know I can trust, and he has always been found faithful.

Gina Grizzle is a wife, mama, and aspiring writer who has a passion to share her life with other women in order to encourage them to be the best they can for the kingdom. At home in East Tennessee, Gina loves to fluff her nest, squeeze her sweet kids, and read books. She blogs at ginagrizzle.blogspot.com.

Photograph © Joy Stamp, used with permission