Of Sparrows and Bluejays

On Sunday night, Dan & Dayna noticed a little blue jay in our front yard (not the one pictured). It had apparently blown out of its nest. On Monday, I noticed this same bird in a different part of our yard. Later in the day, it had wandered yet again through the yard. Whenever we would peek out and check on the bird, we could hear its parents chattering loudly, keeping vigil over their little offspring.

On Tuesday morning, our friend was still hanging around, close to the front step, and mom and dad blue jays were still keeping watch. Dayna was so intrigued, and happily watched throughout the morning as the mama bird would come and feed it.

Well, our lawn was overdue for a mowing, and Dan was getting nervous about doing the job. He carefully left a large square of grass uncut around our little friend. Mama and daddy bird put up a fuss, but when the mowing was done, they kept coming back with food for the baby. And Dayna watched.

A little bit later, the neighbor's cat wandered by. We watched as the cat sniffed a little bit, then walked away. I assured Dayna that the bird has been in our yard for 3 days, and that if Blackjack (the cat) hadn't bothered the bird yet, he probably wouldn't.

I went downstairs to do some work, when I heard a bloodcurdling scream. As you can probably guess, Blackjack came back, and scooped up the baby bird while Dayna was watching. She was terrified and angry. Dan took off running, got the cat to drop the bird, and carefully carried it home with some gardening gloves.

While trying to calm Dayna, I did what I could. I found hot peppers and sprinkled them around the patch of grass, hoping to keep the cat out, but let the parents have access. For an hour, we watched the confused parents look for their baby in the yard next door, then finally find it back in our little patch of grass. The baby wasn't moving, beyond some shuddering breaths. But, eventually mama came back and started feeding the baby, and before we knew it, baby was up on its feet again.

And back comes Blackjack. Not knowing if the peppers would work, I also circled the patch of grass with vinegar. Didn't know if it would help, but it couldn't hurt.

We prayed for the baby. We opened our Bible and read about how God cares about the sparrows and knows each bird that falls. We also reviewed God's promises that, while we may not like it or understand it, that God has a special plan for all of His creatures. I assured her that God did care about this baby bird.

We left for swimming lessons, not knowing what else we could do but pray. When we returned an hour later, the bird was gone.

Dayna's heartbroken, but it's been precious watching her cling to prayer, Scripture and faith...even thanking God for taking care of the birds, and even more, taking care of her.

I assured her last night that while it makes me sad when she's sad, that because I love her, I can't always (nor will I) stop sad things from happening to her. Don't know that she gets it, but I'm heartened to see how she handles disappointment.