Returning from my weekly (albeit loathly) trip to the
grocery store in my car, I spotted a bird perched in the middle of the
road. Being an animal lover (or perhaps
just a half-decent person), I slowed down to allow him time to fly off to the
bush area to the left of the road. I
assumed he had his home somewhere in the greenery of the cemetery that sprawled
across some acres on the opposite side of the road to my flat. Having climbed further up the deep incline
of the road now, I glanced in my rear view mirror to confirm his get-away was
successful: it wasn’t, he hadn’t moved at all.
I quickly pulled into my usual parking spot on the bank in
front of the flat, and then ran back down before any other vehicles
approached. As I walked up to him, it
struck me odd that no one had come along or even that I was lucky enough to
find him now, still intact seemingly; what if I’d bought one more item at the
store? I could have been too late.
As I meet him in the middle of the road, I could tell that
at the very least he’d been stunned by a vehicle, hence his lack of trying to
get away. I gave him a little nudge in
the rear with the edge of my jandal, still he made no attempt to flee. That is when I noticed the blood. Still no vehicles entered the scene; the bird
and I were very much alone, and his only hope of getting through this was by my
intervention (call me Bird-Rescue Lady if you will, my closest friends can
testify this was not my first rescue for a feathered friend).
It struck me some hours later that God is like this for us,
in our times of need. He sees our
accidents, our falls, our being struck down from time to time in the journey
that is life and he seeks to be there right by our side during these difficult
times. For me, there have been times in
my life when I’ve felt like I was unable to cope with the problem at hand, and
no matter how many people I confide in and share with, the heaviness of the
situation still encompasses me. During a
wave of overwhelming emotion, I’d fess all to God in a rather blunt and
ineloquent manner. God, being of His
define character, doesn’t stomp up to us post-confession, grab us by the arm
and declare “Excuse my interruption, but you’re coming with me”. Nor does he deliver us immediately from all
our troubles, disavowing the time-consuming healing process. No, like my prompting of the small bird on
the road, He gently nudges us in the right direction, and then waits.
I wonder too if God looks down on us, like I did with the
bird, and admires His creation. The
adornment of this simple creature was remarkable, with a chest of white against
a bright bluey-green colouring on his back and wings, like the many shades
visible on the ocean surface, and completed with a pointedly sharp black
beak. He is King Fisher, alike to his
own kin, as we are to each of our races.
The number of different species of birds in this world is extensive,
each with their own common colours, sizes, markings and tendencies. God, in spite of His own greatness and
bigness, must have spent considerable energy designing each of these unique
bird species, as small and as infrequently appreciated as they are. It is overwhelming just to consider that this
is but one type of animal on this earth.
How much work too must God have spent working on man, made in his own
image, some similar in colour, features and size to others, but each unique in
soul and spirit? Perhaps from time to
time He looks down on us, from a great height, and recalls his reasons and
hopes for making each of us.
You’ve got my good side, so admit it – I am quite something.
*Illustration may not necessarily reflect one of God’s personal
designs
Alright, the connection isn’t impossible, but only in
3D-animation is it likely..
Again returning to my earlier suspicion that I had been
chosen to help this bird, I knew exactly what the protocol was to get him the
help he needed beyond what my hands could provide. Reaching for my mobile phone, I scrolled
through my list of contacts looking for a contact I’d labelled ‘Bird Rehabilitation
Centre’. A few months earlier, when my
phone was temporarily playing up, I’d scrolled through each of the individually
entered contacts deleting those who I no longer required. I vividly remembered contemplating for a
moment whether or not to keep the Bird Rehabilitation Centre’s number on my phone;
it wouldn’t have been hard to retrieve off the internet after all. Now I was glad I’d kept the number on there –
again, it was although it was more than coincidence.
This too draws parallels to us in our times of need. God can place specific people with specific
resources, knowledge or words around us in our times of trial. Sometimes those people are merely stepping
stones, as they seek to join us with others who can do more to help in our
particular circumstances. Yet each
person is necessary and relevant in this chain of connections that helps us
during our time of need.
God will give us resources and means to help others, if we are
willing.
Phoning the Bird Lady was a bit like phoning for an
ambulance. I had wondered what I would
do if she wasn’t home, or if no one answered.
But she picked up within a couple of rings and quickly dispensed the
information I needed for getting to her house.
It was a fair drive, half an hour at least, half of which was along
deserted country roads to where she resided out in what I term “the sticks”, as
beautiful as it is (look, some of those areas are not yet broad-band enabled, I
rest my case). Part of me thought the
bird wouldn’t make it. As I lay him down
in the box, he’d rolled on to his back, with his legs in the air and I’d
thought for a moment that he was gone.
On closer inspection, his chest was still rising and falling, so I
continued closing up the box, leaving a
small enough space for air to get in, but not enough to assist in any possible
escape tactics.
By the time I pulled in to the country property, he’d begun
to perk up a little. He sat in a normal
perch-like position in the box now, and seemed notably content, as though he
gaged my intervention as no threat at all and fully trusted me to take care of
him. I was rescuer, utilising my
accelerator and driving skills, checking the road map periodically; his role
was simply to sit and wait to arrive at the required destination. Perhaps we could learn something from this
little bird in terms of trust; let go and
let God is all very well in theory, but to actually sit there serenely and
know for sure all will be taken care of is a different matter.
Like anyone who has journeyed through the healing process,
time was required in order for the King Fisher to be fully restored. With one wing slightly torn away, he was
limited in what he would be able to do for a while. With each day, those who are scathed, physically
or emotionally, begin to regain strength and skills needed to survive in this
world we live in. Like the King Fisher
though, we often need the assistance of others around us, that we might utilise
their intervention to better equip us on our journey. The Lord can place others in our paths to
help with a specific struggle, or a particular season, because, like even the
humble King Fisher, each of us needs help from time to time. No one is destined to be an island; no one is
destined to always go it alone.
-Wendie
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