A Sermon Outside the Kitchen Window

Do you ever feel discouraged?  Maybe financial problems and related uncertainties have you worrying?  Perhaps you feel powerless against things that life throws your way?  I think those are all normal emotions that are part of the human condition. Situations like that truly test our mettle - and our faith.  Sometimes we have to go to church to hear a sermon.  Sometimes those sermons come to us and are lived out right in front of our eyes if we take time to observe.

You'll have to forgive the quality of the photos that follow, for all but three were taken through our double-paned kitchen window above the kitchen sink over the course of 18 days.  As I was replacing the compost bucket that we keep in the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink, a flurry of activity caught my eye.

In some shrubs right outside the window, a male and female cardinal were busy. They were working together, carrying pieces of straw that they were collecting and fashioning it into a next.  You can see the female cardinal (some call them red birds) sitting in the partially constructed nest in the upper center of the photograph below.  She is dull colored by purpose.  As she'll be sitting on eggs, she is vulnerable and the dull color of her plumage camouflages her from predators.  Her beak is brightly colored though.  The male was a brilliant red color and stood out.

Under Construction

Over the course of the morning, their nest grew from a few pieces of straw...

To an intricately woven home!  I didn't see the birds looking at any blueprints. They didn't purchase a building permit.  There were no inspectors to ensure it was up to code.  The birds were guided by instinct to build their home.

Finally the work was complete.  The momma bird sat in the completed nest it as if to say, "It is finished!"  Move-in day, you might say.  The birds worked quickly, efficiently, and with teamwork and accomplished the task at hand.  Their 'starter home' was done!

House Warming Party

Over the course of the next few days, the female cardinal would fly in and out and we wouldn't see her for much of the day.  I'm pretty much deaf to some frequencies, so I couldn't hear it, but Tricia could hear the bird chirp as she did dishes in the kitchen sink.  (The bird wasn't doing dishes in the kitchen sink - Tricia was!)  Four days later Tricia walked out to the nest and observed this:

A couple of brown speckled eggs!

Note the careful construction of the nest.  The outer construction has stiff, strong, sturdy straw - made for strength, stability, and durability against the elements. The inner lining was softer, smaller grasses - made for comfort.  The craftsmanship and design for a simple bird was thought-provoking. How do they know how to do this?

Houses are built with bricks and beams,
Homes are built with love and dreams.

The female bird sat on the nest over the next couple of weeks.  She'd fly off to eat, I presume, but it wouldn't take long for her to return to sit on her nest.  I checked on the eggs from time to time, but there was no noticeable change.  The change was occurring inside, though.  I walked out yesterday to discover this:

They sure are some ugly little creatures.  Not much in the way of feathers - a little peach fuzz covering their pink skin.  I made a noise and the two little baby birds must have heard me or sensed my presence, because they both lifted their heads and opened their mouths WIDE!!  Hungry little birds.

Feed me, please...

As I took this picture, the momma bird circled, letting me know that I needed to get out of the way.  I went inside and she immediately flew to the nest with something in her beak.  It may have been a bug of some sort.  Benjamin and I watched her as she seemed to chew it up and then...

She dipped her head into the nest and fed her little ones, filling their open mouths with the food that they desired - food that will help them to grow up and continue the cycle of populating the earth with songbirds.

Breakfast in Bed

Like the Momma bird, our Creator equips us with what we need.  That is quite different from what we want.  He is a loving God who takes care of us.  We are His Creation and He loves us.  Much of the worry and discouragement we face on a day to day basis is brought about because of a lack of faith.  I admit that I am guilty of not trusting Him sometimes to take care of me in the affairs of life and confess it often.

When I was attending a church in Houston, Texas years ago, the pastor gave a definition of faith that has stuck with me.  It goes like this:

"Faith is confident obedience in the Word of God regardless of consequence or circumstance."

I like that because it conveys steadfastness and complete and utter trust.  Like the baby birds in that nest, we can be very helpless sometimes, exposed, vulnerable. We are at the whim and mercy of everything that life can throw at us, but we are under the watchcare of One who is much greater than us - one who controls the very winds that blow.  We can be buffeted by the storms of life, but He's built a solid 'nest' for us of firm construction.  He holds us in the palm of his hands.  He cares for us.

There is an old song called, "His Eye is on the Sparrow" and the refrain goes like this:

I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Matthew 6:26 (NASB)

26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

And as the Momma cardinal looked up, I knew the sermon was over, because she started to play what sounded like an Invitation Hymn.