We have two wild turkeys coming to the feeder these days, a brand new development.  We knew they were out there in the woods—you can here the toms gobbling and the hens clucking early in the morning and in the first hours of dusk.  Then last fall we saw four traipsing across our garden in the middle of the day.  A young visitor that day heard Keith and her father talking about “turkey season,” and I heard her whispering, “Run turkeys!  Run!”  And they did.
              Then in the middle of winter one morning I looked out and there stood a turkey hen under the south feeder pecking at the fallen birdseed.  She visited every day for awhile and eventually found her way around the house to the other two feeders.  Gradually she became used to us, and now we can go out on one side of the house without her leaving the opposite side at a “turkey trot.”  She will even let us move by the window inside, where she can see us clearly, without running away.
              Then one afternoon there she was again, only she looked a little different, didn’t she?  Maybe her neck was thicker we said, and then one of us moved in our chairs and she ran down the trellis bed and actually flew over the fence.  Turkeys do not like to fly, so she must have been terrified.  That’s when we put two and two together and realized we now had two turkeys, one with a thinner neck who has learned that we won’t bother her, and one with a thicker neck who still thinks we are some sort of predator out to get her.  Isn’t it odd that it’s the skinnier turkey that is the least frightened?
              That is an apt metaphor for the people of Israel.  They were the country with the skinniest neck, yet throughout their history they routed huge armies or saw them turned back by “circumstances.”  They watched God’s power work when no other country their size, nor even some larger, could withstand the enemy.  But despite that ongoing evidence, only a few learned to depend upon God, only a few saw the chariots of the Lord on the hilltops around them (2 Kings 6:12-18).  Only a few of them had faith and courage like this:
              And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, 2 Chron 14:11.
              Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright, Psa 20:7,8.
              Eventually there weren’t enough faithful to save them from destruction.  Eventually God had to remove the ones He thought had some potential and send the prophets to ready them for a return, but even then only a small remnant came back.  Many of them were still frightened turkeys, and they were well aware of how skinny their necks were.
              Learn the lesson those people didn’t.  God has given you evidence every day of your life that He is with you.  If you think otherwise, you just haven’t noticed.  Trials in your life are not an indication that He is not with you.  Paul told the Romans that “tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword,” none of those could separate us from the love of Christ--not that they would never happen! 
              Be ready to stand against whatever army Satan throws at you, knowing that ​the chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; [and] the Lord is among them, Psa 68:17.                                                                                      
Dene Ward

We were standing on the carport one evening when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.  I turned just in time to push Keith out of the path of a garter snake determinedly chugging his way up the slope to the concrete slab.  We called the dogs off and allowed him to meander under the mower and off the edge of the pad to the cool darkness under the porch.  A few days later he made another appearance and we discovered his home when he wriggled away—the hollow pipes supporting the metal roofing of the carport.
            I have come a long way in 35 years--from a city girl who screamed and ran from a foot long, pencil-thin, bright green garden snake to a country woman who understands the value of a snake on the property—God’s original mousetrap.  I will never be a snake lover.  I went out one afternoon and found him stretched out at the foot of my lounge chair.  I got the broom and shooed him back into his pipe.  My dogs can sit at my feet and have their heads scratched, but with Mr. Snake it is only a matter of “live and let live.”
            Too many times we take that attitude with Satan.  Yes, he is out there every day.  Sometimes we even bump elbows in passing, but we don’t have to stop and politely say, “Excuse me.”  Don’t give him a cool spot on the carport and an idle belly rub with your bare toes.
            If this garter snake were one of the four poisonous varieties we have in this area—all of which we have seen on our land—he would not be tolerated.  Although my guys may tell funny stories about me and snakes, they cannot deny that I know how to make like Annie Oakley when a bad one comes along.  I have killed them with a shotgun, a .22 rifle, and a .22 pistol.  I have killed them with rat shot and buckshot.  When necessary I have used a shovel.  I have lost count of how many poisonous snakes I have killed.  They get fewer every year.
            How are we doing with Satan?  Does he think his presence is tolerated, even welcome?  Or does he know that it’s dangerous to be around us?  He is fighting a losing battle and he knows it, but that won’t keep his poison from killing us if we allow him to get too close.
 
Do not give opportunity to the Devil, Eph 4:27.
 
Dene Ward
 

Due to the huge number of college football games seen in my home lately, that commercial in which cows turn on lights, parachute onto a football field, and stand on top of a car pestering the little boy in the back seat has evidently made an impression on me.  A survey company called the other day. A long time ago I made a few dollars doing phone surveys and appreciated anyone who did not slam the phone down, so I answered their questions. “Which fast food chain comes to mind first?”  I answered immediately, not with any of the hamburger, pizza, sandwich, or taco joints; but the chicken place with the name I never knew how to pronounce until I was grown.
            Those commercials stand out to me for a reason—those are dairy cows!  They don’t need to worry about becoming someone’s hamburger. 
            Does it make a difference?  Only to purists, I suppose.  The commercials certainly do what they are designed to do as evidenced by my quick answer to the survey question.
            But for some things it does make a difference.  Jesus warned that blind leaders will cause others to fall into the ditch too; God wasn’t going to save them because someone led them the wrong way.  John tells us in the fourth chapter of his first epistle that God expects us to “prove the spirits” because many false ones have gone out into the world.  Paul marveled in chapter one that the Galatians had been fooled so soon after their conversion.  None of them told us not to worry, that God would save us if we were tricked into believing something that wasn’t so.
            A long time ago, a prophet was sent to warn King Jeroboam about his sinful ways.  God told that prophet not to stop anywhere on his way home.  An older prophet sent word for him to come by for dinner.  When the younger prophet told him he could not, the older prophet lied, saying, “God said it was all right for you to eat with me.”  Instead of checking with God first, the younger prophet stopped by the older prophet’s home.  Before they had finished their meal God came to him and told him he would be punished for his disobedience, and, sure enough, on the way home he was killed by a lion (1 Kings 13).
            Not knowing the difference between what God said and what this man had said, even a prophet of God, cut his life short.  God expected that young man to check with Him when he heard a command other than the original.  God expects the same of you and me.  And even though this young prophet probably thought he could rely on one of his own, one older and supposedly wiser as well, that didn’t mean the message was correct. 
            One cow is not the same as the other, no matter what it looks like, or what we think about it.  Believe me, you could tell the difference between steaks cut from dairy cattle and those cut from beef cattle.  And the first time you tried to milk a steer would definitely be the last.  Believing a false message, no matter who tells you and no matter what you want to believe, will not make that message true, and the results will be much more serious than a tough steak or even a kick in the head. .
 
But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you abide in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them, 2 Tim 3:13,14.
 
Dene Ward

I remembered recently a walk Chloe and I took one morning when she was still a puppy.  It was a particularly nice day.  The steam bath of a Florida summer had given way to the milder warmth of early fall.  Migrating birds had stopped for the breakfast buffet in the nearby woods.  My hawk called good morning from high overhead.  A breeze fluffed up the grass and sent cotton ball clouds scudding across the sky.  Our world was filled with beauty and peace.

            All of a sudden, down at my feet, Chloe belched.  This was not the dainty puff of air I sometimes hear from our older heeler, who then looks at me with embarrassed, downcast eyes.  This was a full-blown, open-mouthed belch that, proportionate to her size, would have rivaled any beer-bellied redneck.  I laughed out loud from the sheer shock of it.  I had never heard a puppy belch.  I didn’t even know it was possible.  Puppies are cute; puppies are playful; puppies are sweet and innocent.  Hearing Chloe belch certainly ruined that image.

            Unfortunately, image is one thing and reality is something else entirely. Sometimes we forget that and set ourselves up for a lot of disappointment that could be avoided.  And sometimes that disappointment costs us our faith.

            Consider this one thing, among many others:  how much more shocked are we when a preacher or elder falls?  “What hypocrites!” we instantly accuse.  Yet, isn’t it a poor preacher who cannot preach better than he can practice?  Why should his inability to be perfect (which we have no problem telling him about otherwise) keep us from trying at all?  The reality is we all fail once in a while, even though our image of them says they shouldn’t.

            Whenever someone says to me, “I’ll never go to that church because some of the people there are hypocrites,” I usually answer, “Even the apostles had a Judas among them, but they did not let that make them forsake their Lord.” 

            To those who leave the church “because of all the hypocrites,” Keith usually says, “And you are going to leave the Lord’s church in their hands?”  You see, what it all boils down to is yet more excuses for our own behavior.

            No matter how well put together people seem on the outside, everyone has problems.  Sometimes the worst problem anyone can have is trying to live up to another person’s image of him.  If anyone knows he is not perfect, it is usually the one whom everyone else thinks is.  Not preachers, not elders, not elders’ wives, not great Bible scholars—no one is without fault.

            That person you think is a perfect wife?  Once in a while she nags.  That person you think is a great husband?  Once in a while, he leaves his dirty clothes in the floor.  That couple you think have a perfect family?  Once in a while their children roll their eyes at their parents and actually rebel a little.  That one you think is always so kind and sweet?  Once in a while she loses her temper. 

            Never blame your own faithlessness on the imperfections of others.  No one is perfect.  Don’t let your image of how things ought to be, rob you of your faith when reality checks in.

            Even puppies belch.
 
If you, O Jehovah, should mark iniquities, who could stand?  But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.  I wait for Jehovah, my soul does wait, and in his word do I hope.  O Israel, hope in Jehovah, for with Jehovah there is lovingkindness, and with him is plenteous forgiveness.   Psalm 130:3,4,7.
 
Dene Ward

Every fall, usually in late September or early October, we make our first trip outdoors on a cool, clear evening to eat by the fire.  It is usually hot dogs and chips, but occasionally chili or soup or stew, or sometimes just a cup of cocoa and a few homemade shortbread cookies. 

Chloe knows the drill and as soon as she sees the wooden tray that Lucas made in high school shop class loaded with paper plates, plastic cups, and bags of chips, or maybe a tall stewpot and some bowls, or perhaps just a couple of steaming mugs, she follows close behind.  Does she beg?  No, she does not.  She sits a small distance from our lawn chairs by the fire and carefully watches.  Her eyes will follow the franks as Keith skewers them on the three foot long fork, or she will monitor me as I ladle out the steaming chili.  Whatever it is we have, she quietly sits and watches with eyes gleaming in the firelight. 

But as soon as she sees me load up the tray tables next to our chairs, she bounces up on all fours and her tail begins to wag.  After well over twelve years, she knows what is coming.  As I head back to the wooden tray one more time, she finally begins hopping a tiny bit back and forth on her front feet, and licks her chops.  "Good girl," I tell her.  "Here you go," and hand her a Busy Bone, usually the Chewnola variety, which we have learned over the years keeps her happy the longest.  Usually, we all three finish eating at the same time.

Because we have always given her a treat while we eat, she trusts us to do it again—every single time.  So she sits and waits patiently with a Biblically defined "hope"—assurance that what is promised will come.

God expects no less of us.  But before we get too far along in this, let me say this.  "Patience" in the Bible is not about being quiet and never complaining.  James talks about "the patience of Job" in 5:11.  If you have read Job, you understand that he did not take things quietly.  No, patience in the Bible is about endurance, steadfastness, never giving up no matter how difficult things may get.  Job certainly did that.  God expects that of us as well, in all sorts of situations.

He expects us to wait when people have been evil to us.  Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.  Prov 20:22.  Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.  ​Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.  I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!  ​Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! Psa 27:11-14

He expects us to wait when the evil are prospering and we are suffering.  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.  ​He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.  Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!  Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.  ​For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.  In just a little while, the wicked will be no more…Psa 37:5-10

He expects us to wait even when the world is reviling his name.  How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?  Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!  Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.  Ps 74:10-12

He expects us to wait in the midst of trials and persecutions.    When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne  They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer…  Rev 6: 9-11

And why do we wait patiently—without giving up on God no matter what happens in our lives?  Because of all the promises he has kept in the past.  Because of a land and a nation that came into existence after more than four centuries.  Because of a Messiah who finally came after thousands of years to fulfill that very first promise:  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”  Gen3:15  Even because of the care he has promised and given us on an everyday basis.

And now we wait for one final promise:  For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God…1Thess4:16

And so we wait, even more eagerly than Chloe waits, I hope, with even more assurance that the promise will indeed be kept.  After all, God has been so much more faithful to me than I have been to him.
 
  For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, o that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…Heb 6:13-19
 
Dene Ward

Keith went out in the dark the other night to check for armadillos.  We have found our garden, yard, and flowerbeds torn up nearly every morning for the past two or three weeks, and he was out to rid the world of a few of those pesky critters, a fruitless venture it turned out.
 
           As he stood in the black, heavy, humid air amid the croaking frogs, his eyes not yet used to the dark, he put his left hand down, knowing full well that Chloe’s head would find it whether he could see her or not.  It did, and he scratched her between the ears and told her what a good dog she was to help with the hunt.

            The Bible mentions God’s hand being held out as well.  Jeremiah speaks of God creating the earth with great power and an outstretched arm, 27:5.  Moses tells the Israelites that same mighty hand and outstretched arm brought them out of Egyptian bondage, and thus they should obey His commandments, Deut 5:15ff.  Later in their history Ezekiel warns them that, since they disobeyed, His hand would be held out with wrath poured out, 20:33,34.

            That is not the way God wants to hold out His hand.  We have all seen animals or children cringe when a hand was held up.  It speaks volumes about the kind of treatment they are used to receiving.  But God has held His hand out in fellowship from the beginning.  We are the ones who ignore it or push it away. 

            In chapter 11, Hosea tells of God teaching Israel, his son, to walk, and I cannot help but picture a father standing just a step away with his arms outstretched, urging his small child to take that first trusting step into his arms.  That is the hand God wants to hold out to us.

            The question is do we naturally gravitate to the one who loves us, or do we simply ignore the pleading hand and go about our foolish ways?  Chloe is always looking for her master’s hand, even in the dark.  How about you?
 
Fear thou not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; yea, I will help you; yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm; For his lovingkindness endures for ever, Isa 41:10; Psa 136:12.
 
Dene Ward

My neighbor does not take good care of his livestock.  The horses, donkeys and cows all have ribs that show through their skin and sores on their hides, unfortunately, just below the level that the animal control people consider criminal neglect, so they will not intervene.  I often think to myself that I would like to see those people have to endure the same things as these animals and then decide if it is abuse or not, particularly after those poor creatures have broken through the fence yet again and we must dodge them as they wander the road looking for something to eat..  We have even thrown some of our garden refuse over the fence to try to help them out.
 
           As I walked up to unlock the gate one morning for an expected visitor, a donkey and a cow stood just across the west fence.  The donkey evidently saw a meal on the hoof, walked up to the cow and started chewing its left ear.  The cow was not pleased with the situation and turned around.  So the donkey started chewing its right ear.  The cow yanked its head away and trotted off, with the donkey trailing behind.  As soon as the cow stopped, the donkey headed straight for her head and grabbed an ear again.  Once again the cow turned around only to have the other ear chomped on.  She took off again.  I watched this for nearly five minutes before the cow finally headed for the fencerow and quite purposefully stuck her head in a bush. 

            The donkey tried to get to an ear and found himself struck in the face by the limbs and branches of the wild myrtle and unable to get to the cow’s ears.  I am afraid I could not help myself—I laughed out loud and cheered for the cow.  After a few minutes, the donkey gave up and left, trotting across the field straight for another cow, braying loudly as he went.  I had to go about my own business then, but I assume that cow had success as well since, while I still see the outlines of ribs and spines, I have yet to see any of those animals earless.

            Sometimes some braying donkey of a human comes along and tries to chew on our ears.  I am afraid that too often we let him when we should be turning aside and, if he is persistent, finding a bush to stick our heads into.  As long as there is a market for gossip and slander, there will be people to fill the need, and when we listen we are no better than they because we find pleasure in their sin. 

            Gossip can accomplish a lot, and none of it good.  It can ruin friendships, break up families, divide churches, and permanently stain reputations.  It has been going on since Satan, the “slanderer,” told Eve that God was just a selfish tyrant who did not want to share.  Look where that got all of us.

            Today, when someone comes to you with the latest “dirt,” find a bush and stick your head into it.  Don’t let that person chew on your ears.  Sooner or later he will get the message and move on.  
 
He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore company not with him who opens wide his lips. Prov 20:19.

Dene Ward

What you don’t know won’t hurt you.

            I didn’t know that Keith had taken Chloe’s food pan and set it in my chair on the carport when he blew the dust off a few Saturdays ago.  He didn’t notice that she had left a few kibbles.  Neither one of us knew that a few fire ants had gotten in there and they had migrated out to my chair when he disturbed them.  I didn’t know they had started crawling into my clothes when I sat down there until a few minutes after we walked back into the house.  Suddenly I was ripping off my clothes and slapping myself.  I wound up with bites on my chest, back, arms, and legs, and a ring of them around my neck.  I felt lousy for a day or two, not to mention the aggravating itch.  What I didn’t know did in fact hurt me quite a bit.

            That seems obvious, but sometimes we act like ignorance is a viable excuse for most anything.  And indeed, sometimes it is.  A new Christian has a lot to learn.  As long as he is studying and praying and trying as hard as he can to learn what he needs to be and do, his prayer for the grace of God will keep him safe.  I believe that with all my heart.

            But when I have been a Christian for years and years and have done nothing to learn and grow, or have simply stopped, that is inexcusable. 

            Learning new facts can be difficult, especially as I grow older.  Trying to see past the superficial to the amazing depth of God’s word can mean I must try to comprehend things I have never even thought of before.  Yet how many times have I heard “I never heard of such a thing” as the instant dismissal of a new thought in a Bible class?  How many times have I heard people complain because a class was “too deep?”  What a shameful thing for a Christian to say.      

            Then we get to the crux of the matter, for applying principles to my life can be as painful as a shirt full of fire ants.  Who in the world actually wants to know what they are doing wrong?  Why, I’ve been a Christian forty years; I’m not about to admit I still have weaknesses I need to confront in anything but a general way.

            That is, however, exactly what God expects of us.  The shame is that usually the babes in the Word are hungrier to learn and grow than we old-timers.  But we had better shape up, sooner rather than later, or ant bites will be the least of our problems.
 
Hear the word of Jehovah you children of Israel, for Jehovah has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth or goodness or knowledge of God in the land.  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you…Hosea 4:1,6.
 
Dene Ward

Chloe, our 12 year old Australian cattle dog, is not stupid.  She is, however, a little bit lazy.  She spends as much of her day as possible lying under the porch in the cool sand.  So several days a week I make sure she gets some exercise.  Keith has mown a path around the property that runs a half to three-quarters of a mile.  Chloe will easily follow me around once just to be with me, but if I try to lead her uphill and down, through thick grass and uneven ground, over armadillo holes and mole tunnels more than twice, she balks.  As soon as we come anywhere near the porch after the second lap, she is under it in a flash in her cool, damp haven.  She has had her fill of "healthy" for the day.
 
             In the summer she may not even last two laps, her tongue hanging nearly to the ground and her breath coming in heavy puffs after just a couple hundred feet, but as I said, she is not stupid.  Part of our jaunt lies in the bright, hot, direct Florida sun, and part in the deep, ten degree cooler shade of hundred year old live oaks.  Every time we hit a sunny spot, my furry redhead's pace picks up to a trot as she jogs through the heat.  When we reach the shade, she slows to a walk—the better to stay longer in the cooler shadows, head wagging back and forth with each heavy step, feet beginning to drag as she sees another sunny spot approaching.  If she finds a fresh hole to investigate or spoor to be sniffed, she will only do so in the shade.  In the sun, it just isn't worth it. 

              Winston Churchill supposedly said, "If you're going through hell, keep going."  (The attribution is an open question.)  Chloe would understand perfectly.  The only way to get out of the heat, out of the bad situation you are in, is to keep putting one foot in front of the other, the faster the better.  But what do I see?  People who lie down in the scorching sun and wallow around in the grass waiting for someone to come and pat them on the head and tell them everything will be fine.  Someone has been listening to too much health and wealth gospel.

               Everything will never be fine until you get up and get going, and then "fine" is still relative.  Life is hard.  That is what those curses in Genesis are all about.  "Thorns and thistles" is not about trying to grow a garden, it's about living a life of uncertainty, trials, illness, loss, pain, and suffering.  It happens to everyone, not just you.  If you went around the room and asked people to share, you would find that everyone is dealing with something.  The only way to handle it is to keep going until you reach some shade, even if only for a while. 

              If you need help to get out of the heat, get it.  Counselors and support groups should not be forbidden to Christians.  Find someone who has firsthand experience.  No one knows what you are going through like others who have been through the same things.  No "best friend" can help you like someone who has been trained to.  You are not being strong when you refuse this kind of assistance—you are simply making everyone who loves you suffer, too, by your stubbornness.  It's one thing to stumble and fall as you stagger through the scorching heat of affliction, and need a hand up; it's quite another to simply sit down in it and wallow like a pig in the mud.

              If a little dog knows better than to flounder in the heat, surely you should.  Get yourself up and walk—trot even--into the shade.  What will you find there?  Your brethren, a Savior who gave himself up for you in a truly horrible fashion, and God who allowed it for your sake, who listens to your cries, and who has promised that someday there will be no more scorching heat of suffering, just the cool, and Eternal shade of comfort and ease with Him.  But you will never reach it unless you keep on going.
 
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2Cor 4:16-18)
 
Dene Ward

It was a couple of years before we finally had sparrows at our bird feeder.  For some reason, it took them the longest to find us.  But which variety?  I never realized there were so many until I tried to look these little guys up in my bird book.  One afternoon, a sparrow perched on the window ledge right beside me and I looked down on his tiny red-brown cap.  Aha!  He was a chipping sparrow.
 
           You know what else I noticed?  He always has friends with him.  What started out as two or three, by the third or fourth day had become a dozen, and the next Saturday afternoon I counted 21 on my five foot long feeder. 

            On our last camping trip, we threw some biscuit crumbs onto the grass outside the edge of our graveled state park campsite simply because I had heard a dove out there one morning and Keith was hoping to lure him out into the open.  I grabbed the binoculars—even though I sat only fifteen feet from that grassy spot—and saw a sparrow.  No, wait!  Not one but two, no--three, no--half a dozen.  Keith said, “Look at all those sparrows!” and I answered what I had come to know over the months, “You never see just one sparrow.”

            This, of course, made me think.  Cardinals?  Yes there were always more than one, usually a pair, and when they raise a family nearby they bring them to eat too.  They are a bit territorial, though, and will sometimes fly at other birds to knock them away from the food.  No one else is supposed to enjoy this privilege.

            Titmice?  Yes, they come in pairs too.  But when other birds arrive, they often sit off in the azalea bushes scolding them with a tiny, high-pitched screech.  Even when I go out to add more seed, though the others fly away, the titmice will sit and fuss at me.  I keep telling them, “I am giving you a free and easy meal.  Be patient!”  But scolding seems to be their nature.  Nothing anyone else does suits them.

            And the catbird?  He always comes alone.  He pecks the suet and flies away as fast as he can.  He is the biggest bird to visit my feeder, but he acts like he is afraid of them all.  He never interacts with anyone.  He is there and gone, almost before your eyes can focus on him.  I wonder how he gets any nourishment at all.

            But the sparrows? They are not afraid to sit close together and stay long.  None of the bigger birds can scare them off.  In fact, the doves, which run up and down the feeder, literally “running” birds off more than feeding themselves, cannot run off those sparrows.  I saw a dove try to run at a sparrow one day, and the sparrow just sat there, minding his own “eating” business, until the dove at the last minute had to hop over him to avoid the collision.  Meanwhile, there are more and more sparrows coming, and my birdseed bill is growing faster than my grocery budget.

            Can we learn anything from all these birds?  You can probably see these lessons as easily as I can.  Christians are grateful for what they have and enjoy feasting on the word of God.  They enjoy each other too.  They don’t have time to criticize because they are too busy with the business at hand.  And most of all, they want to share. 

            There should never be just one Christian.
 
So the woman left her waterpot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,  Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did: can this be the Christ?  They went out of the city, and were coming to him. And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman who testified, John 4:28-30,39.
 
Dene Ward