Inside: What does a man, a brand-new chainsaw, and a nest of birds have to do with the tender heart of God? Read on to find out.
The Man
One day Mike and I were talking, and I told him that we really needed to invest in a decent chainsaw. So many trees had taken root over the last couple of years, plus dead limbs on our Chinese elms that had to be reckoned with in the near future. So Mike dutifully researched the best deals until he found just the right one–an Echo CS-590 Timber Wolf.
The Chainsaw
After purchasing said power tool from the local Farm & Home Supply store, he brought that beauty home and began to saw things–small trees and limbs–until he moved to the front yard to lop off that dead limb we’d been staring at for a couple of years. Skillfully he cut wedges into the wood, and, little by little, it started to move before finally falling into the hackberry tree beside it. Gently, carefully he tugged on the limb until it landed on the ground.
The Nest
Right away he began sawing the large dead limb into smaller chunks for future burning in Mom’s woodstove. I went back to my comfy seat on the couch, listening to the loud grinding noise of our new chainsaw when all of a sudden I heard, “Come out here, quick!”
Now, the last thing you want to hear when your loved one is using a high-powered saw are the words, “Come out here, quick.” Needless to say, I ran out the door. To my surprise he held up a piece of the limb with a nest containing three little birds, mouths open, eyes shut. Despite everything, they’d escaped harm.
He felt terrible! I felt terrible! We racked our brain for some solution to how in the world these baby birds would get fed. My fear was that the bird mom wouldn’t want to come back to the nest with all that sawing and dismantling of the house she’d so carefully crafted for her babies.
Mike set the partially hollowed log where he’d severed the limb from the tree until we could come up with something. I went back inside and did what I do when I have no idea what else to do–prayed! I asked God to take care of these little babies and to bring their momma back to the nest.
I’ll take care of them, I heard Him say.
The Tender Heart of God
As the day wore on, I worried about that little nest, worried that they’d be abandoned. As I watched from the house, I noticed a little chickadee approaching the nest with something in her beak. Next I saw another chickadee, as if tag teaming with the first, to feed these little hungry birds. A daddy bird, too!
God had answered my prayer about that little nest of birds!
Over the next several days, rain was forecasted, locally heavy bouts at times. Mike and I wondered if we needed to supply some kind of overhead tarp to protect them yet wondered if we’d spook them if we did. The canopy above seemed to provide decent cover, but what about rain coming sideways? Again, I went to the Lord about it.
If I need you to do something, I’ll tell you, He said.
“But what about. . . ”
Don’t you think I know how to take care of a few birds?
So we stood by and watched the little miracle, through rains and sun, day by day. Me by the window with binoculars, Mike peering into the nest to check on them when he’d come in from work. Several times he’d seen them, but upon viewing them a full week later, they were gone. We checked for any evidence that a cat might have gotten them, but the nest was intact. Later, after doing some research, we discovered that the period from hatchling to leaving the nest is very short–around 14 to 18 days. The babies had simply grownup and flown away.
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I shared this story with my sister-in-law the other day, and she thanked me for it–for reminding her about the tender heart of God.
“I thought about writing a post,” I said.
“You should write it,” she encouraged.
And so you have it–the story of a man, a chainsaw, a nest of baby birds, and a God who cares about the seemingly insignificant details of our very lives.
Resources and related posts:
Neighborly Encouragement and the Power of Flowers
Today in past posts:
Turn Sprouted Sweet Potatoes into Plants (2018)