Watch, Look and Listen!

“Look, she’s right there at the end of the gravel!”

“I can’t see her!”

“You have to look very carefully, just look along the edge where the gravel has fallen off the driveway.”  Wes waited patiently while I was eagerly searching the small gravel patch.

I strained my eyes, looking along the edge of a mound of gravel that was beside the driveway.  Moving back and forth my eyes just couldn’t pick out where the mother Killdeer was.  Finally I noticed her eyes, only because she had moved her head slightly, but her body was completely camouflaged in the gravel.  She was perched perfectly still on her little nest. Again.

I’m convinced that it’s the same Killdeer that was here last year and the year before that and the year before that.  She lays her eggs in the same area of the yard, not the exact same place, but the general area. 

“Oh boy, how are we going to protect her?” I asked Wes, “The dog is going to kill the babies if he finds this nest or we’re going to accidentally mow over the nest!  What if we would put a flag to mark the spot so that we remember she’s there?”

Wes shook his head, “That's not going to work, our dog thinks that any sticks or poles, no matter where they are, are his to tear out of the ground and run away with.  We would just be helping him to find the nest.”

I looked at the mother once more as we slowly drove away.  How in the world were we going to stop any harm from coming to her and her babies?

After we had parked the truck I got out and talked to Wes about the spray paint that companies use to mark the grass along where their hydro or telephone lines are when people dig.  I continued explaining, in great detail I might add, that I would take the dog for a walk and then Wes could quickly run and spray the area around the bird’s nest so that we or others would remember that it is there.  The more I talked, the more I liked the idea.  But, deep down I knew that I had to trust that Killdeer mother to take care of her babies and that we would simply need to be careful when we mowed around that area.

I love Killdeers.  I love their teeny tiny babies when they begin running around, no taller than a blade of grass.  I enjoy watching the babies closely following one another in a straight little row through the grass and the minute the mother calls out a warning they all stop and drop into the grass until she lets them know the danger is past.  If we, the observers who are seen as potential danger, don’t move away fast enough she goes into her ‘broken wing’ routine, trying to make us believe that she’s not hiding anything of value close to her.  Sometimes the routines become quite frantic with plenty of wild movement if she believes we are still a threat.  Those moms are so protective of their little family.

The mother Killdeer guards her little family diligently.  She teaches them to recognize her voice so that they know when it is safe to go or if they need to drop down to the ground because there is danger close by.

If the baby birds were not taught to listen for the warnings of their mother they would be running hither and yon, never recognizing that danger is close at hand.  Not having any direction could cause them to be filled with anxiety and worry or they could show their immaturity and be silly and naive believing that they have nothing to fear in this world.

As these baby birds are constantly aware of their mother's presence to warn them of danger, we also need to be constantly aware; aware of the Presence of God, aware of the Spirit's Presence, understanding that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Never closing our eyes to danger, but trusting the One who is passionate about loving us and protecting us.

That is why we constantly need to be listening to Him, discerning His Voice through His Word, through our worship of Him and through our prayers to Him. 

His voice is there...we simply need to listen.

The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.                  Proverbs 22:3