A Cardinal Moment!

All day long, the young female cardinal has pecked on my picture window in the living room.  She started early in the morning, so early that it woke me up.  I have a very large window in my front room with two little windows on each side.  I love being able to look at my beautiful surroundings without blinds, shades or curtains.  I feel that, even if I'm vacuuming, I am outside!  Well, so do birds and insects.  I have to buy those pretty vinyl clings that match the season and put them up to keep birds from hitting the windows and knocking themselves silly....it does help but usually a few times a month, I hear a crash, run outside and scoop up a dazed bird to put him or her in a little cage to keep them safe from the visiting cats until they've gained their senses again. A few times, they've released themselves in the house.  Oh, that's usually when my husband calls and one of the kids say, 'mom can't talk,  (uncontrolled giggles), she's chasing a bird with the butterfly net....yeah, in the house!'  My poor, poor husband.

Anyway, today this young female cardinal has had two courters bringing her food.  They have worked and worked to win her heart.  All she wants to do is peck at the reflection in the window.  It's become really annoying.  By lunchtime, my son asked, 'why is she still doing that? Doesn't she realize that it's a reflection?'  'I guess not', I reply, 'she's young and this is her first mating season. I'm not sure if she is trying to get in the house to build a nest or if she's upset at her reflection, maybe it will get the guy.'  My son, in frustration, said finally in the middle of the afternoon...'Good grief! Why would she sit there all day long banging her head over and over when obviously we aren't going to let her in!'

I began to think about myself....'we do the same thing, you know.' I told my son.  We want something and even when God tells us 'no' and closes the window, we still run forward and try to crash through over and over until we hurt ourselves. 'Do you think that God ever looks at us and explains to the angels that we're young and immature and can't see the big picture just like we're talking about this little bird?'  Do you ever think that God thinks, 'When are they ever going to learn? I have something so much better if they'd just turn around and look at what's behind them?'  when I said that, my son smiled....'Never thought about it that way' he said.

I began to pity the little bird after that, I began to feel sorry for her.  She was missing so much behind her because she was focused on that bird in window that she drove away her suitors and she was alone.  If she'd just turn around and focus on what she could have...but instead, she's still flying into the window over and over again.

Reminds me of someone I know.......

Miracles

In our morning devotional at breakfast this morning, we read about God answering prayers. As I read Hebrews 11:1-10, I began to think about how we go about praying. The devotional was about how God sometimes answers our prayers by giving us the ability or strength, that He doesn't just make a miracle happen. Like God giving doctors the ability to diagnose and treat people instead of just doing what we would call a miracle.

I think back to the joke about the man on the roof in a flood. He was praying for God to save him, but when a boat and a helicopter both offered, he waved them off saying, 'God would save him'. Well, he died and when he asked God why He didn't produce a miracle to save him, God answered, 'Man, I sent a boat and a helicopter, what more did you want?'

In our modern age, I sometimes forget just how blessed by God we are in our everyday lives. So many of the things I take for granted would be miracles to those alive hundreds of years ago. We can replace corneas, knees, veins and parts of the heart. We replace skin, put hair where it wasn't and suck out fat. We save children that were born too early and people who lived far too reckless by destroying their bodies with substances. How many times a day do I witness God's miracles and never once say 'thank you'? It would embarrass me to know.

I remember when I was in a developmental biology class in college. It became apparent to me that it was a miracle everytime a baby was born. To start with one cell and end up with over a million cells in the human body working perfectly, each doing the job it was purposed for, well if that is not a miracle then what is?

Miracles aren't just found in parting the seas or bringing the dead to life. Sometimes the greatest miracles are found around us, using those around us and if we are tuned into Him, possibly us.

Tune into God today and be a miracle for someone!