We had a sweet Mama robin bird build her nest under our deck. It’s a great place to build a nest. The robins have been building in that same spot all eleven years we’ve lived here.

Photo of an original drawing by Thing A.

Our younger children have enjoyed observing the Mama sit on her eggs for days and days, both through the deck boards and from our walk out level. This weekend we noted that Mama bird was bringing little worms to open, squeaking beaks poking over the edge of the nest.

Sadly, this afternoon, our cats broke into the nest and kidnapped the babies. I had very sad little girls who witnessed the dirty deeds. When mother cat, Katrina, upset the nest, 9 month old kitten Uno was right below for her share of the kill. Our girls just sobbed, torn between being angry with their beloved cats, and devastated that baby birds were murdered during an act of nature.

Mother Bird remained understandably angry and upset for a couple of hours. She made a LOT of noise. Interestingly, though, a whole flock of robins came alongside her and joined the angry chorus. They tried to distract our cats by making a lot of noise, dive bombing at our cats to get them away from the nest and the dying babies, even after our cats had taken them far from the nest, and tried to get the cats to chase them into the trees.

I had no idea birds reacted in this way! I’ve never seen a flock of birds rally around each other!

It was amazing to observe them trying to help the babies and the Mama bird, and to express outrage. Normally, we hear only happy chirping and occasional squabbling.

People all around us are hurting like our Mama bird and her babies.

Friends, we need to be like a flock of robins. We need to help each other out. It’s really okay to squawk and fight for someone when necessary. Sometimes holding fellow robins or murdering cats accountable IS the loving thing to do. Discernment and wisdom should be exercised, because it’s also wisdom to know when being quiet is going to meet the needs. Not everything we think needs to come out of our mouths or onto our social media outlets. Let’s listen more to and for the needs of those around us. Let’s protect and defend the weaker ones, and those who are innocents.

My little girl grabbed her Bible for comfort. She asked me to help her find the “verses about the sparrows” so she could underline the passages. She read out loud:

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are (people are) worth more than many sparrows.”

Luke 12: 6-7

She then said “Boy, Mom. God must love me an awful lot. He loves sparrows/robins and doesn’t forget them. He knows how many hairs I have because He created me. I’m worth more than sparrows and robins.”

Comforted, my sweet girl dried her tears.

God loves hurting people more than robin babies and Mama robins.

Let’s love hurting people, even as we might also be hurting people too.

Blessings,

Deb

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Don’t you just love the video’s music piece, Toccata, by Johann Sebastian Bach?