I've had this birdhouse for more than a decade. I won it at a recreation district event. It has graced my porch for more than ten years without EVER becoming home to any birds.

When we moved last year I set it out (decoratively) on a post in the yard that used to hold one of those gigantic satellite dishes. The wind kept blowing it off, so I moved it to the porch, where it has resided through the fall, winter, and spring.

So the other day my daughter says, "I just saw a bird fly into the birdhouse."

No way, I thought. I went outside and used the LED light on my phone to investigate the interior of the perpetually abandoned birdhouse. To my shock, the interior has been lined with feathers, and under the feathers, I could just see the outline of at least four tiny white eggs. (Since then, Mama Bird has added additional feathers to hide her eggs from prying eyes.)



This discovery triggered a stakeout. I kept my eye on that little birdhouse, which is alarmingly close to our front door, for hours.



Sure enough, a pair of swallows has decided to make the long-empty birdhouse their home this year. Their next-door neighbors are a pair of Rocky Mountain bluebirds who nest annually in the eaves just a few feet away. I'll be keeping an eye on the birdhouse for the next few weeks, awaiting the arrival of its tiny occupants.

Favorite Drink and Favorite Bird... if that's not a stretch, I don't know what is.

"Favorite Drink" was hard. I mean, if you think about it, everyone's favorite drink is WATER, no matter how you flavor it. Without water, there is no other "drink."

My favorite drink is dependent upon time of day, temperature, attitude, atmosphere, availability... If it's cold outside, I like hot cocoa. If I've been working in the heat of the day in the garden, a cold beer is refreshing. In the morning, it's hot tea or hot coffee. In the evening, it's a toddy or a nice glass of wine. Wine seems to be the go-to drink of late (and it's easy to draw, so...)

Day 7 is "Favorite Bird."

I like pretty much all birds, from eagles to finches. I love the ones that come to my feeders, and I love the bright flashes of blue or yellow that come from our resident pairs throughout the year.

Last year we were visited by several pairs of Eurasian ring-necked doves. When they are calm, they "coo." Apparently, like coyotes and raccoons and skunks, these doves are incredibly adaptable. Their range is expanding every year.

It makes me think about being a Christian; a believer in Christ, the son of God, who came to save us and grant us (everyone who would believe) eternal life. Christians these days are about as inflexible and unadaptable as a species can possibly be. It makes me wonder... will we continue to "lose ground" and be relegated to the realm of "endangered species," or will we figure out that God's love for the world was always intended to be adaptable and flexible, a supernatural flow that rolls around and over every human obstacle, every religious monument, every demonic wall erected, to bring life and love and peace and goodness to mankind.

Somehow, I think Jesus intended his followers to be more like coyotes and pigeons than like purebred dogs at the Westminster Dog Show or rare-breed parrots in a collector's collection.

I have a bird feeder outside the window by my desk. Every day an astonishing variety of birds come and go from the feeder. They come alone, in couples, or in groups. If I forget to fill the feeder, they disappear, only to return within a few hours once I fill it again. Rain, snow, even high winds don't stop them. There might be different birds in different seasons, but there are always birds.

In the yard just beyond the feeder, robins hunt for worms and grubs and whatever other earthy delicacies are to be found below the surface. Red-tailed hawks circle the fields surrounding our home in search of ground squirrels and field mice. And once in a while, bald eagles appear high overhead, riding the wind currents. Startling black and white magpies with their dignified formal plumage, and ugly bare-headed turkey vultures play a janitorial role for the ecosystem, cleaning up what no one else wants to touch. (Turkey vultures are gross, but their bald scalps are practical ... if you stuck your head in, er, road kill, bare skin would be a lot easier to keep clean.)


Last week the hummingbirds reappeared, on their way "home" from their tropical winter vacations. Finding my feeders missing, they trilled their way to my window as if to alert me of their return.

During my lifetime, I've fed pigeons in New York's Battery Park, been adopted by a peacock, cared for an orphaned Canadian goose, had a flock of chickens, owned a cockatiel and parakeets, mourned the death of a baby magpie my son had plans to teach to talk, and tracked a (flock) of wild turkeys through the snow behind my house.

Of all God's creatures, birds may be the most familiar to us. So familiar, in fact, sometimes we overlook them. We see them in mall parking lots, catch glimpses of them in our peripheral vision, hear them when they begin to chatter at the barest lightening of the eastern sky, and thrill to the promise of spring supposedly warranted by the appearance of the first robin. But birds, by virtue of their commonality, can serve as powerful reminders of God's love and provision.

God used birds as an example throughout Scripture, in both the old and new testaments. Noah sent out a dove from the ark to determine when the waters had receded from the land, confirming God's promise. The Holy Spirit's method of coming to rest upon Jesus is described as being "like a dove." The Psalms repeatedly describe God's care for us as that of a bird's self-sacrificing, gentle care for its young. Mother birds, for example, rip the softest feathers from their own breasts to line their nests. Kind of reminds me of breast feeding.

Beyond enjoying their natural characteristics, birds serve as a powerful reminder for me of God's love and provision. God used birds as an example throughout Scripture, in both the old and new testaments. There are too many references to share in one post, so I'm just going to put my favorites here. I hope that these verses, reminders of God's incredible care for us, the value He places on us, will bless, encourage, and comfort you as much as they do for me!

Even the sparrow has found a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young --
Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
My King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
They will still be praising You.
Selah                                           Ps 84:3-4 NKJV

• God provides a home for birds, He'll provide a home for me and my children. Are you praying for a change in your housing situation? Here's a verse to tack your faith to!

Not one sparrow (What do they cost? Two for a penny?) can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't worry! You are more valuable to him than many sparrows.

• Do you ever feel worthless? Like you don't count for much? God is aware of every bird that falls, much less every one of us, made in His image and likeness. Have you ever found a feather? You noticed that feather. God notices you - every pain, every hurt, every victory, every success.

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 

• Birds don't DO anything to earn God's care and provision, He just cares for them because God is love. His love is unconditional ... the next time you catch yourself wondering if you've done enough, given enough, prayed enough, or praised enough to earn His care, read this verse again! 

Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches." 

• We can trust our lives to God's kingdom, and to the lordship of Jesus Christ, just the way birds trust the trees to support them and their nests and their young, no matter the intensity of the wind or rain.

Plant these verses in your heart and be prepared to be reminded of His word everywhere you go!



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