On islands near Greenland, and other regions of the North Atlantic, lives a colorful bird called the Puffin. Its bright orange, oddly-shaped beak with blue and red stripes attached to a white, puffy face, topped with a black skullcap, give it a very funny look. Add to this a white body with a black cape and dark collar—all mounted on stubby orange legs and feet, and it presents a very comical appearance. Though it seems to be a strange bird, it is well suited to its environment.
It is a splendid diver and excellent at catching seafood. Not content with one victim at a time, its beak can hold several fish, eels or shrimp while pursuing and catching others. Then all are brought to a rock where they are eaten. No one understands how the Puffin can do this, but some people think it holds the first victims with its tongue while opening its beak to catch others.
Some colonies of Puffins contain hundreds of thousands of birds. Sometimes they make their homes in burrows, but usually they build nests on cliff ledges where the female lays one white egg. The eggs are a remarkable example of the Creator’s special care of their needs. Instead of being oval like a chicken’s or round like some woodland birds, the Puffin’s egg is round of only one end and pointed on the other.
Why do you think the Lord made their egg such an odd shape? When He created the Puffin He knew that their eggs would be laid on rocky ledges. A round or oval egg would easily roll off the ledge if left unattended even for a moment or two. However, a pointed egg just turns around in a circle and can easily be returned to the nest. Only a Creator who loves His creatures would design such an egg. It could never develop through so-called “evolution.”
It takes almost a month for the chick to hatch. It remains in the nest about six weeks and is fed a continual diet of fish. When the parents tire of this chore, and leave it, the young bird goes to the edge of the cliff and flies down to the water. There it feels comfortably at home, and soon it is diving for its own food. Forgetting its parents it becomes an active part of the colony and later migrates south with them, returning in the spring to the same rock on which it was born.
These birds live in a remote part of the world, but are not forgotten by the One who created them. The Lord once said, “Consider the ravens (and might well have added the Puffins): for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?” Luke 12:2424Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? (Luke 12:24). He is making it plain that He thinks more highly of human beings than of all else. He has shown this by giving us a never-dying soul and He wants us to prepare for heaven by trusting in Him.
Our preparation for heaven is by seeing that we need to have our sins forgiven and by confessing Him as the One who alone can save us. His kind invitation is, “Those that seek Me early shall find Me.” Proverbs 8:1717I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. (Proverbs 8:17). Have you done this?
ML-06/13/1982