23 Apr An Earth Day Miracle: God’s Grafting Love

On Tuesday I was giving some of our homeless guests a ride from our food pantry, when they pointed out a bird nest in a bush near where they’d been waiting for me, saying the bird had been coming and going. I reached my phone up high to take a picture: one blue egg! The next day, around the corner of the building, some of our Wednesday Night Kids found two baby birds on the ground, squeaking helplessly, fallen from their nest—a nest too high and difficult for anybody to possibly reach.

I was struck by how fortunate it was that Shelley, with her extensive background in biology, just happened to be with us. After considering options and finding none feasible, we all felt very sad, thinking of the little birds’ fate during the cold night to come. Just then I remembered the other nest shown me the day before! Could they survive in another nest? It was worth a shot!

Lauren picked up the ugly, scraggly-looking little birds one by one and placed them in the other nest, (while I shuddered at the engrained rule echoing through my head: “never touch a baby bird; the momma will reject it because of your scent.”) Would the momma or daddy bird kick them out again? Perhaps, but it was worth a shot…

Jason and our kids stuck around to see what would happen when the adult birds returned to the nest. One of the birds seemed to stare at them, a little confused, while the other immediately started feeding them, coming and going…coming and going… I was amazed! The human scent didn’t phase them at all! Early the next morning the adult bird was sitting in the nest, keeping the babies warm.

After a while, it got up to continue feeding them. I marveled at everyone’s efforts coming together to care for those birds—from our food pantry guests noticing a nest I would have never, to the children having a heart for the helpless baby birds, to Shelley standing by with her biology expertise, to Lauren picking up the birds, and Jason watching over them.

I worked on a sheep ranch in Wyoming for awhile and we had a practice of grafting sheep. When an older ewe rejected a lamb (wouldn’t feed it), it became a “bum” lamb. When a young lamb of another mother died, we would sometimes skin it and tie the skin of the dead lamb onto the live lamb like a jacket, or superman cape; the ewe would recognize the scent of her baby lamb on the orphaned lamb and accept it. In essence our church body had now successfully “grafted” two little birds!

Sometimes in life we feel like these baby birds, fallen (or kicked) out of our nest, plummeting into cold, scary, and dire circumstances, wondering how we’ll ever survive. We feel the stench of our situations (needs, sins, brokenness) all over us, wondering if we can ever be restored. Jesus Christ did the work of grafting us into the nest of God’s love—one could say we are cloaked in His death and accepted by the Heavenly Father.

Our church’s job is to rescue fallen birds, of all kinds, all around us—bringing them to our God’s love. God uses our different abilities as we work together, to care for the needs of the fallen around us. Some birds in our church’s nest may be home-grown, some may be grafted in, some may stay for only a little while before flying away. Some of those we’re called to care for may be undesirably coated with the stench of this broken world, but with hearts transformed by God’s compassion, the scent of love can transform and envelope all needs.

Say a little prayer for the baby birds and adopted parents, that the care will continue, and say a prayer for our church, that we will continue to compassionately care for the needs of people around us.

On a personal note, in addition to Earth Day, it was the anniversary of my beloved grandmother’s passing. She always loved birds, hummingbirds, plants, and was full of love for all living things. I marvel at the amazing ways God weaves things together in our lives–Amanda