One day in the month of July a mother robin was teaching her babies to fly. Her nest was in a nearby maple tree.
One baby robin seemed to be learning quite well until it fell to the ground. Of course, mother robin couldn’t pick it up. She could only cry out in alarm in her loud “cheeping” voice as she flew anxiously from branch to branch and tree to tree, keeping close to where her baby was on the ground.
I gently picked up the baby bird and carried it down to my neighbor, Mr. Hughes, to ask if he had a bird cage I could borrow. Thankfully he did have one in his garage and was eager to help. We put the little bird in the cage, and I carried it over to hang on an inside limb of my pine tree. I wanted it where I hoped the neighborhood cats would not be able to easily reach it, but where the mother bird could still feed her baby. It was not long before she was flying to the cage with worms when no one was around.
Another neighbor has a pure-white cat named Tom, and he was soon exploring the area and was very interested in what was in that pine tree. All the while the mother robin was watching, anxiously chirping and hopping from branch to branch.
One night before I went to bed, I checked to see if all was well. I could see Tom sitting across the street near the cedar hedge watching. I opened my bedroom window wide so that I could hear any noise.
Then something did happen. I awoke with a start in the dark of the night to hear mother robin frantically chirping outside my window. My clock showed 2:00 a.m. I got up quickly and hurried to the front door. What I saw was Tom up in the pine tree pushing the bird cage around and around with his paw. He was trying his best to get at the baby robin. I ran out and shooed that cat away!
Meanwhile, mother robin was still chirping frantically, wide awake and anxious at 2:00 in the morning! What a loving mother she was, watching over her baby even in the dark night hours.
And our loving God and Father watches just as carefully over His children. He tells us in the Bible that He watches over us day and night: “He that [keeps] thee . . . shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper” (Psalm 121:35). And He lovingly guards and protects us just like a mother bird: “He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust” (Psalm 91:44He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. (Psalm 91:4)).
But our Father’s great love goes even further than His daily care over us. He wants each of us to spend eternity with Him in those mansions of heaven. Since He cannot have us in heaven with our sins, He made a very costly plan that shows us how much He loves us. He sent His beloved, sinless Son, the Lord Jesus, to die for us. The Lord Jesus willingly went to the cross and took the punishment for the sins of every person who will accept Him as his or her substitute. If you will accept Him as your Saviour, your sins will be gone forever and a place in heaven will be reserved for you. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)). There is no greater love!
We kept the baby robin in the cage for about a week where it was protected while it grew stronger. The cat could still frighten the baby bird, but he couldn’t touch it! When we finally opened the cage to let the baby robin out, it flew off and away with its watchful mother.
One day soon the Lord Jesus is going to come back to take all of us who are true children of God to heaven to be with Himself. Only then will we begin to understand just how much He loves us. Will you be there?
ML-09/27/1998