Birds Of A Feather - Part 2

Hummingbirds are incredibly aggressive, territorial creatures. The males especially will defend their feeder and living area by physically attacking and chasing other hummingbirds. They have established their space and will do whatever is necessary to maintain it as their own.

You would never suspect this antisocial behavior from a beautiful little bird. We stand mesmerized at the window while we watch their little wings and listen to their hum. We even laugh a little as they chase each other around the bushes below.

What we don't often realize, though, is that the male who is doing the chasing and protecting has something very serious at stake here. His territory is filled with all the food, nesting places and room to fly that he needs. If another male were to take up residence there as well, he would be fighting for a share of the food and the attention of the females. In their world, this is completely unacceptable.

To humans this seems shallow and mean. We learn from a young age to share what we have, include others and treat everyone as we would want to be treated. God's ways, man's ways and hummingbird ways are all very, very different.

Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Romans 12:17-19

If we were to adopt the attitude of the hummingbird, we would never allow anyone to come into our personal space. There is too much we've created in our homes, our hearts and our minds that could possibly be taken away. It's just easier to chase everyone off and do our own thing.

But Paul reminded the believers in Rome that honesty, peace and patience are more important than space or being right. We're not territorial birds, but part of a flock that needs peace to run through it. This begins within our own hearts and being open to God's direction.

We can either live peaceably or live in the hummingbird's chaotic world of territory and isolation.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holland Creme - That Amazing White Stuff In Donuts

Image
I remember going to the grocery store every Saturday morning when I was growing up, and my favorite place in the entire store was the donut case. All the glazed, powdered and filled baked goods drew me like a magnet. My favorites, far and away, were the ones filled with that beautiful white, fluffy creme. At the time I didn't know it was called Holland Creme - I just knew it was the most amazing concoction ever. Ever. Here is my version of this sweet treat. You can make your own fried donuts and fill them, or like I did here, you can cut a crevice into store-bought donuts with a knife and fill them with creme in a piping bag. Either way, you're going to love it. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shortening 1 cup butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 7 cups powdered sugar 1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat until boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool complet...
Read more

Recovering An Old Card Table And Making It Usable Again

Image
This card table recover project has been on my to-do list for months. I've been using it as my workspace in the craft room for quite some time, and it sees a lot of abuse. Here it is now, with a neutral cover on it so I can take better pictures for my tutorials. There were dents and dings in the old blue covering from metal tools. And yes, I've used my embossing heat tool on it several times, leaving pretty good scars. The padding underneath the blue cover also made it difficult to keep paper crafts flat when adhering them together, so it was time for something new. That's where a simple vinyl tablecloth comes in handy. The process to recover the table is pretty simple, but I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I share them with you now. First, don't do this on any surface but a carpet. I tried it on the deck int he sunshine to get better pictures, but all it did was tear up the cover. Second, get a second pair of hands to help you kee...
Read more

Crafts For Teen Girls To Make

Image
In our teen girls Bible study, we're studying our way through the Proverbs 31 woman and it's been such a blessing to me, as I hope it's been to them. Every month we spend an afternoon or an evening together studying Scripture, making something amazing in the kitchen and creating something that corresponds to the verse we're in. Choosing the crafts each time can be a challenge for several reasons. It needs to be something they can completely finish (or do most of) because once they leave they're probably not going to work on it themselves - that's just the nature of teenagers. Remember? It also needs to be a project that keeps they're attention, is age-appropriate and is cool enough that they'll want to keep it or give it to someone special. But hey, no pressure on the Bible study leader, right? Here are just a few of the projects we've done together in the year we've been meeting. * This month's craft will be the adorable cross stit...
Read more