Lost and Found

A baby bird wobbles across the grass in our backyard.

It has fallen out of its nest under the eaves of our roof.

The bird flaps its tiny wings, trying to fly, but it doesn’t get more than a foot off the ground.

I look out the window, watching, worried… wondering how it will survive.

I get a piece of bread, break it into crumbs and tiptoe out into the backyard. Slowly, quietly, I sneak up behind the bird and drop some crumbs on the ground hoping it will eat. But it runs away, scared.

Then the most amazing thing happens.

A mama bird lands on our fence nearby, a worm in her mouth. The baby, standing in a pile of leaves now, helpless and hungry, chirps frantically.

Instantly, the mama swoops down and feeds her baby, right there in the leaves, just a few feet from me. (The baby might have been scared, but that mama sure wasn’t.)

I go back in the house, smiling at the mama bird’s spirit and her faithfulness to find and feed her baby even when it was out of the nest.

And I realize, that’s how God is with me.

All the times I’ve fallen out of the nest in my life…

the times I’ve made mistakes or the times I’ve forgotten about Him…

he’s found me.

And like that mama did with her baby, He has given me food–the very bread of life… grace, peace, forgiveness,

an overwhelming, unconditional love.

No matter how far away we wander from time to time, or how fast we run, He’s always there, finding us and caring for us (even when we don’t realize it).

Because that’s how God is, and that’s what He does.

And I am thankful.

What about you? Have you let God find you? Do you look back and see His presenece in your wanderings too?

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast. –Psalm 139, 7-10