Like a Songbird

Behavior is something we must be careful to observe, both in animals and in ourselves.

By Lorelei Nettles

I have always enjoyed looking at the various birds that visit my feeders. I get all sizes of birds. There are tiny songbirds and woodpeckers and larger birds like Blue Jays, Northern Flickers, and Pileated woodpeckers. Unfortunately, I also occasionally get some pesky squirrels and Starlings. In watching them, I see many different behaviors. Some good and some bad.

The small songbirds gather around the feeders and generally get along well, and many are very considerate of each other, especially those they are familiar with. I was considering that this is how we are in church. We generally get along well and thoughtfully consider how we treat each other. We try not to get in each other’s way and make room for everyone in a friendly manner.

The Blue Jays, Starlings, and most of the larger woodpeckers, fly in like a jet and all the other birds quickly clear the feeders. These big birds will not allow other birds to come to the feeder when they are there, and few smaller birds will even try. Like too many in the world, some are not always pleasant and act big. They, in fact, can be darn right aggressive and angry. Most of us do not want to be around these kinds of people and may even go out of our way to avoid them.

The Piliated Woodpecker also flies in fast and strong like the other big birds and all the other birds move away. Not because the Pileated is aggressive toward them, but because it is so large and intimidating, they do not want to deal with it. It eats to its fill without any trouble and then flies away.

Then there are the squirrels of this world. Now squirrels can be pesky and disrupt the feeders and they make a big mess of things. Regular squirrels would be fine, but we have invaders. We not only have indigenous squirrels but also gray Canadian squirrels that migrated here. They are not like our gentle local squirrels. Not only are they larger, but they are more aggressive. They also are big meat eaters…which can be a problem.

I learned the hard way how awful the squirrel’s behavior can be. We had one we had to repeatedly run off. Unfortunately, he was not very intimidated by us. He defied us at every turn. One day, looking out the window, I saw the gray squirrel on the feeder. I was heading to the door to run it off when I noticed a little trusting chickadee land near the squirrel. Just as I reached the door I watched in horror as the squirrel reached out and grabbed the chickadee. It put it in its mouth and ran off to finish eating it. I was in shock and quickly looked up the squirrels in the area to learn more about this behavior. It seems this is quite common behavior for the Canadian Gray Squirrel, but that did not make me feel better.

I compare the evil squirrel to the enemy of our spiritual lives. We need to read up to see what the behaviors of Satan and his legion are. He too is always nearby hoping we will slip up so he can grab us and run away to devour us. Lurking and looking very innocent until he pounces.

We can never let our guard down. We must stay strong like the Piliated, wearing our plumage which is the whole armor of God. Being so sure in our faith that the innocent-looking squirrely demons will not want to bother with us. We must not be like aggressive and angry birds who cannot reach anyone with our faith due to our bad attitude. Instead, we should be as friendly and accommodating as the songbirds. Showing simple love toward each other as the one body God expects us to be.