Reminder of God's Beauty in Creation

I was working in the studio early this afternoon when my son said "there's a bird trying to get in through your window" I looked up, sure'nough he was right! I rushed to find my camera then went outside hoping to capture this special occasion on film.

My first thought was this had to be someone's pet and it had escaped -- perhaps a displaced Ike victim -- then I remembered something I learned a few months ago when we were eating out at the Green Parrot Restaurant in San Leon (post-Ike) - these little beauties are actually native to our area. Not long afterward we were at the Spillway Park near the Bay between Bacliff and San Leon where we were delighted with an entire flock of these most colorful birds. Hum, they must be native just like the information on the restaurant menu informed us. How wonderful!

Whether this is a wild bird or someone's pet, no matter, all I know is that it was a most pleasant distraction! The colors on this little fellow are some of my favorites - I love using lime green in my quilts. I really like the turquoise on his tail feathers and the vibrant rose/bright apricot on his head was simply stunning. I would have never thought of putting these colors together, but then again, I'm not the Master Creator! I think I will mimic this is a future quilt though (smile).

When I held out my arm the little fellow flew and landed on me. I tried to pet it with my outstretched finger, gently, but he playfully pecked at me, letting me know he wasn't pleased with my gesture. Reluctantly I gave up trying to touch his beckoning softness. He then tried to fly into my window again and I knew we needed to do something to keep him from hurting himself. What to do? Hum... Offer food!!

Back in the day I was a very active bread maker -- from scratch -- really from scratch, as in I was the little red hen kind of scratch -- just like the little red hen in the olden story I read to my children as they were growing up, I ground my wheat berries to make my own flour for wonderful whole grain goodness. I also added several other ingredients when I made my whole grain Ezekiel bread, one of which was millet - what we commonly refer to as "bird seed" -- I still bake occasionally and have a 5 gallon bucket full of millet (among other grains) so I rushed into the house and poured some into a bowl to try to entice our new guest to eat and get away from the window.

We were pleasantly surprised that he trusted us and took our humble offering.

We were equally pleased that he came off the window sill to perch on the bowl of millet. As he was eating we noticed that one of his wings had been injured. Facing us it was the left side. When he would bend down into the bowl for his nourishment we could see there had been damage and some missing feathers underneath. Pleased, we discovered that it did not look to be infected - perhaps he was on the mend and a good bowl of millet would hit the spot and help him heal.

Somehow we knew that this beautiful little bird needed the safety of our backyard with it's large canopy of trees instead of the uncertainty of the carport where cats and squirrels are known to run under the studio window to the irritation of our forever pup Pixxie who dutifully barks through the window letting it be known her turf has been violated.

Slowly we walked the bird perched on the bowl of millet to the backyard. And I mean slowly. I was amazed at the beauty of this creation of God and I must have taken a hundred photos (smile). I even figured out how to take a video with my digital camera. If you listen carefully you can hear the crunching noise of the little bird breaking open the grain of millet.

Eventually we made it to the backyard where we placed the bowl with the bird still attached on our patio table. The wind was picking up, it was getting a tad bit cooler, so my thoughts began to dwell on providing a shelter from the upcoming storm for our new little guest...my husband went inside to find a shoebox and filled it with a couple of washcloths. He brought it outside and set it on the table. Our fine feathered friend hopped off the bowl to the top of the box, we thought "He likes it!" and then to our amazement he flew up into our tree.

I stayed outside and just looked up at him. Amazed at his beauty. Amazed at his trust. Praying that his wing will heal and that he will want to make our backyard his forever home. Reluctantly I returned to the studio - going out about 15 minutes later to see if he was still there. He was, right where I left him .. and then the rains came... I went outside with my umbrella and looked for my little feathered beauty. I couldn't see clearly up into the tall shelter of our tree...there was nothing else I could do. Honestly I was a bit sad.

I was reminded of a verse from Sunday's message ... Matthew 6:26 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?

Then my mind wandered back to earlier years and a portion of a song "His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me"

What a delightful reminder of my awesome Creator God who delights in His children -- enough to share with me, today, this beautiful little bird and the thought that I somehow assisted in providing him food. More importantly, a reminder that I am of more value to Him than the beautiful things He created. That He loves me, cares for me, and provides for me. Whatever storms may come, whatever storms may destroy or thieves steal, nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing can take His love away from me!

I hope I see the little bird again. He will be a beautiful reminder of the love of the Master Creator who cares about us both.