Wobbly-Bobbly Baby Birds

Gazing at the birdhouse door, I see tiny heads bobbing around. I’ve seen three at once vying for a spot at the door. But I suspect there is a fourth, or maybe more. Tree swallows lay four to seven eggs, according to my bird book. The little ones push and shove each other for a peak outside hoping to be first at the next tidbit of food. Mama and Poppa tree swallow are kept busy all day feeding their little flock.

We’d cleaned the birdhouse and painted it green this year, to make it ready for a new bird family. Yet when we hung it outside this spring, I began to wonder if we would have a family move in. Two sets of tree swallows competed for the house chasing each other off and leaving it empty. Somehow the conflict got settled after a couple of weeks, and the new residents finally moved in. I don't think they cared much about the new paint job.

Mama swallow literally feathered her nest. Chuckling, I watched her work hard to get a feather larger than herself into the small hole that serves as a doorway to the birdhouse. She finally managed to angle the feather just right, and in it went.  Persistence paid off.

What is it about babies and the young that intrigue us so?

Is it their innocence?

Their exuberance?  

Their lack of self-consciousness, yet total self-centeredness?

Their utterly adorable, tottery, wobbly, little selves?

Baby “anythings” from animals to humans seem to embrace life with abandon. And so our little bird family delights and entertains us.

Jesus loves children. I’m so glad to be a child of God. In God’s kingdom you don’t have to be young in years to be His child. You just need to reach out to Jesus and He will welcome you. I’m sure there must be times my heavenly Father chuckles at my antics, my efforts, my faux pas, my tottering. Just as we value our little wobbly, bobbly, baby birds, Jesus values all of His children and considers them dear.

“But Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’”  Luke 18:16 NIV