Wrens are known for making their nests in strange places. On the carport, the old exercise bike has become the place to hang things, including the old coffee can we use to scoop Chloe’s feed from the fifty pound bag, and then shove sideways on one handle bar until the next morning. One Saturday afternoon, after Keith had used the can in the morning, a wren couple went to work right under our noses and built a nest inside it in less than an hour. When we discovered it, Keith grabbed some duct tape and ran a piece along the side of the can onto the handlebar to hold it steady. We both hated the thought of the wind or a jostle by one of us knocking the can to the ground, especially after the eggs were laid.
We have been checking the nest every few days, bending down with a flashlight to look inside. That mother is obviously devoted, sitting there staring at us through the beam, not moving a muscle though we are only a few feet away from her. We try to make our intrusions short and no more than once every other day or so. Last Saturday we looked in and saw a mouth. An hour or so later there were three more--a fuzzy gray mound of down and four wide open mouths, swaying back and forth, eagerly searching for whatever we might have brought. I hated to disappoint them.
From time to time we see the parents flying back and forth. They come with a mouthful and leave just a few seconds later—over and over and over. The only time those tiny mouths are closed is when the babies are asleep. While they are awake, mama and daddy get no rest for they are never satisfied. It is never enough.
That is exactly what God should see from us—wide open mouths. If you think attending every service and even extra Bible studies makes you one who “hungers and thirsts after righteousness,” you have missed the point. Certainly we need the nourishment provided when the flock is fed the word of Life, but that isn’t even half of it. Like newborn infants, long for the spiritual milk that by it you may grow up unto salvation, Peter tells us in his first epistle, 2:1. The point is the longing for the spiritual instead of the physical; understanding that the point of this life is training for the next.
Yes, you need a good background in the scriptures. I am often appalled at how poorly my brethren know them. But where there is no desire for righteousness there will be no spirituality. Where there is no longing for God, learning facts will simply be an intellectual exercise. We must be like baby birds—nothing but a wide open mouth that will not be satisfied until the bread of life has completely filled it.
What are you longing for today? Wealth will not satisfy. Health will not satisfy. Status and fame, not even our fifteen minutes’ worth, will satisfy. The only true satisfaction can come from God. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore…For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water…, Rev 7:16-17.
The only way to receive that promise—for your hunger and thirst to be filled--is to be hungry and thirsty in the first place. We should all be nothing less than another hungry mouth to feed.
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." John 6:57-58.
Dene Ward
We have been checking the nest every few days, bending down with a flashlight to look inside. That mother is obviously devoted, sitting there staring at us through the beam, not moving a muscle though we are only a few feet away from her. We try to make our intrusions short and no more than once every other day or so. Last Saturday we looked in and saw a mouth. An hour or so later there were three more--a fuzzy gray mound of down and four wide open mouths, swaying back and forth, eagerly searching for whatever we might have brought. I hated to disappoint them.
From time to time we see the parents flying back and forth. They come with a mouthful and leave just a few seconds later—over and over and over. The only time those tiny mouths are closed is when the babies are asleep. While they are awake, mama and daddy get no rest for they are never satisfied. It is never enough.
That is exactly what God should see from us—wide open mouths. If you think attending every service and even extra Bible studies makes you one who “hungers and thirsts after righteousness,” you have missed the point. Certainly we need the nourishment provided when the flock is fed the word of Life, but that isn’t even half of it. Like newborn infants, long for the spiritual milk that by it you may grow up unto salvation, Peter tells us in his first epistle, 2:1. The point is the longing for the spiritual instead of the physical; understanding that the point of this life is training for the next.
Yes, you need a good background in the scriptures. I am often appalled at how poorly my brethren know them. But where there is no desire for righteousness there will be no spirituality. Where there is no longing for God, learning facts will simply be an intellectual exercise. We must be like baby birds—nothing but a wide open mouth that will not be satisfied until the bread of life has completely filled it.
What are you longing for today? Wealth will not satisfy. Health will not satisfy. Status and fame, not even our fifteen minutes’ worth, will satisfy. The only true satisfaction can come from God. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore…For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water…, Rev 7:16-17.
The only way to receive that promise—for your hunger and thirst to be filled--is to be hungry and thirsty in the first place. We should all be nothing less than another hungry mouth to feed.
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." John 6:57-58.
Dene Ward
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