The very sad news is that one of the robin parents is lying drowned in the ditch water below the nest. Oh, my.......I didn't expect that.
Considering the large volume of rain we received last night, and seeing these two robins' nests built right on the ground, it seems apparent that these birds knew the storm was coming. So how could they possibly know such a thing? Some will simply say, "Oh, God tells them." Well, I believe God created all creatures and endowed them with senses and abilities so they can survive and thrive, but He doesn't actually "speak" to birds or to us. Not in His own voice, anyway. Information moves in other ways.
From seeing the ground-level location of these two nests, we humans can "read" the information that bad weather is coming. So, my question is, what do the robins "read" to get their information? Husband thinks the atmospheric air pressure has something to do with it. Something triggered the instinct in those robins to build their nest down low. Last year, early in the summer, we had a couple windstorms, and afterwards I found a dozen or more nests that had blown out of the trees. Obviously, those birds didn't foresee the windstorms. Does a heavy rain announce itself ahead of time to birds somehow??
Remember when that bad tsunami hit in the Indian Ocean a few years ago? Weren't there reports of animals moving inland weeks before the disaster hit? And some primitive tribes of people seemed to have advance awareness of the tsunami, too. That's just so very interesting.
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I'm sad about the robin mother drowning........I presume it was the mother, anyway. I think this is the father in the photo below. He was hanging around the nest. Will he know enough to take care of the eggs? I don't know how that works with male birds......do they sit on eggs or not? Do any of you know?
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8 comments:
Jeannelle, Jeannelle, Jeannelle! How can you say, "He doesn't actually 'speak' to birds or to us." Not in His own voice anyway."
How can you be so sure how He communicates with birds? And it might be one thing to say, "Well, He hasn't spoken to me," and another to say, "If He has spoken to me, I haven't recognized His voice." Remember Elijah--after the whirlwind, the earthquake, and the fire, only then came the still, small voice. We look for Him in the shoutings. More often He is in the whispers, I think. And what about what Jesus said after calling Himself the Good Shepherd, "His sheep hear his voice, and they follow Him, because they will not follow the voice of a stranger."
This is just my own opinion.
On the scientific side, I always thought birds migrated in the fall because the weather was turning colder, but the scientists now tell us it is related to the hours of daylight growing shorter each day.
Great post, by the way. I feel sorry for the robin family.
Hi, rhymeswithplague!
Thank you for your comment!~
I have to try to be a proper LCMS Lutheran......they believe the literal voice of God speaking to mankind is God's Word, the Scriptures. The church teaches that the days of God speaking literally to a man or woman are long gone.
However, my own belief is that possibly in the natural world, it may go as something similar to this: God informs the earth, the earth instinctively informs the wind, the wind instinctively informs the birds, the birds instinctively inform the people, but people, who are not in touch with their instincts, don't hear or see or feel that information.
Okay, I'll give you the written Word, but what about the Living Word? Read the first few verses of the book of Hebrews to get what I mean...God has spoken unto us BY HIS SON, who actually said, "Search the scriptures, for in THEM you THINK you have eternal life, and they are those that testify of ME."
I don't mean to toss a monkey wrench into your LCMS doctrinem but c'mon! What is conscience if it isn't the still small voice of the Spirit of God? Unless one's conscience "has been seared with a hot iron" and is past feeling....
None of this is directed at you personally. Forgive me if it seems that way.
Hi rhymeswithplague,
I enjoy your comments very much!
Note in my preceding comment I wrote "I have to try....." to be a proper LCMS Lutheran. I'm not a very good one. They are sort of obsessed with Scripture spoken by an ordained pastor......that it has the power to work salvation in baptized hearers. It happens every Sunday.....like a conversion over and over again. They feel that whatever "still small voice" you hear on other days of the week is not necessarily from God. You can't trust your sinful conscience......so they say anyway.
Actually, I don't mind a monkey wrench thrown into this doctrine!
I think we limit the Lord in so many ways. He is God :) And he loves us and wants relationship with us, so I believe he communicates in a myriad of ways (many of which we'll never know this side of Heaven.) There is scripture (certainly) and wisdom from godly people. But there are so many other ways he seeks us and draws us to him. I do believe he works through nature, but I also will risk you thinking that I am crazy by telling you that once in my life I heard an audible voice after I cried to him for help. Those words ultimately saved the life of my child. (Just rereading that makes me feel a little crazy.)
Funny you should mention LCMS: we attended a LCMS church last Sunday for the very first time and were deeply moved. I was admittedly confused during the liturgy when the pastor said as an ordained minister that HE forgave us of our sins.
caution,
Your last sentence made me chuckle, because the first time I attended the LCMS church, shortly before I married my husband....I was stunned that the pastor said those words, "I forgive you all your sins." My Baptist-minded self thought, "He can't do that!"
What is your church background? Goodness, I hope I haven't sounded too critical of the LCMS. There's a wide variance in types of pastors in the synod. Lately, we've had the type that frustrates the dickens out of me.....very mechanical and almost cold, and attendance falls. We're getting a new pastor soon, and I pray he'll be from the other end of the spectrum.
No, I certainly don't think you're crazy because you heard a voice after crying to the Lord for help. I think that's wonderful! Have you ever written a post about it? If not, you should! Here's a post about an amazing experience I once had:
http://midlifebyfarmlight.blogspot.com/2008/02/five-years-ago-today-following-events.html
Thanks for your comments!
Wow, lots of discussion going on here. This is a good thing! But I'm saddened by the loss of the mother bird. I think 'something' told the birds to build their nests down low.
country girl,
I was at Barnes& Noble yesterday and saw a book about bird nests. It said that robins "rarely" build nests on the ground, indicating that at least once in a while they do. I think, too, that somehow they're given the heads-up on where to build. Another place I read that only the female robin sits on eggs.
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