A Lesson from Crows – 1st Sunday Devotional

When a crow says an intelligent thing, chickens may laugh at it. This is the laughing of the sand castles at the powerful waves! ~Mehmet Murat Ildan

I love birds. I like watching them fly in and out to my birdfeeder. I like it when one of them comes close to my window to perch on the windowsill. I like it when the hummingbird buzzes around in front of my window as though trying to watch me the way I ‘m watching it. I like seeing the Canadian geese fly over in their V formation. I like hearing a hawk give that squeal and then take wing to zoom away. I even admire buzzards as they float overhead catching the wind currents and go around and around with a bare dip of their wings now and then.

In my book for kids, Freak of the Week, I have an old character, Dan, who loves everything nature. He watches the buzzards float overehad and says he is the same as sure that those old birds aren’t simply up there circling around on the wind to look for food but because they love it.

I sneak birds into my stories whenever I can. Many of my characters have heard the whippoorwill sing its song as evening turns to night. In The Song of Sourwood Mountain, my character, Mira, has a special affection for bluebirds. A bluebird even made the cover.

In When the Meadow Blooms, I even had two crows as named characters that were vital to the ending after my young character, Sienna, made friends with them. I wrote about that in a blog post a couple of years ago. Here’s the link,  Sienna’s Curious Crows, if you want to read it.

I had never really thought a lot about crows before I wrote that story. Crows are one of the most common birds out here on the farm. They are noisy and apt to bother a farmer’s corn crop. They weren’t the pretty little songbirds that caught my eye when I was a kid. But after I started taking so many walks across our farm fields with my dogs, I began noticing crows in a different way. Nearly every morning I either hear or see crows. Often I will see a large flock of them, actually not a flock but a murder of crows, fly overhead.

I didn’t see a large number this morning. I saw six at first flying from one side of the field to the other. A second or two later another crow flew after them, cawing as if that might make them slow to let it catch up or maybe make its wings flap faster to keep from being left behind. At times, I have imagined they are all off to an important meeting or even better to a party because I will hear caws in the distance as if calling to them. The straggler is afraid of being left behind. Of missing out.

Aren’t you glad that we, as Christians, are in no danger of missing the party even if our wings aren’t as strong or we can’t fly as fast as some others? The party doors to the joy of knowing Jesus are open to all. Faith will keep our wings flapping as we take off with believing hearts.

We can take another lesson from the crows. They never seem to quit cawing. They keep calling out, sharing the good news of a better place to roost or eat or whatever. All that raucous noise seems intended to make sure their friends and relatives will find their way to the party too.

Are we as ready to share the Good News with our family and friends to be sure they are at the Lord’s party too?

7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 7 For we live by believing and not by seeing. 7 It’s what we trust in but don’t yet see that keeps us going. 7 Indeed, our lives are guided by faith, not by sight. …2 Corinthians 5:7 (MSG)