NTM

Building nests…and building churches. Both are a lot of work!

Each spring, outside our living room window we watch a LIVE INSPIRING REALITY show…the building of a bluebird’s nest, followed by the frenzied raising of the bluebird chicks.

If you thought you were busy, you oughta watch.

Throughout the year, we notice bluebirds checking the nesting box we have attached to a lamp post. Eventually, if their inspection passes, the activity starts. Both the male and female drag and push twigs into the small hole for hours.

One note of interest is that bluebirds don’t like “messy” boxes to nest in. After the birds are done nesting, John will clean out the box and that way they will come back again for another brood. 

Bluebird parents “team” raise their babies, bringing bugs to the peephole. If you watch for a while, you notice they are constantly searching for food for the young’uns, who wait eagerly for every morsel they can get. They don’t eat seeds. They love bugs, worms, insects, spiders…all that good stuff. I got one good photo of a bluebird  feeding a worm to its mate inside the box. What a job…and oh, how those babies cry in hunger.

I’ve gotten spooked mowing the grass around the post, and having a bird come flapping out of the hole at me. I think they are territorial. If we park close to the nest, a bluebird will come and sit on our van’s mirror, basically (I think) fighting his own reflection in the window. He also manages to leave a lot of white droppings there…making our van easy to find in the Walmart parking lot!

As the babes grow older, we get to see them peek out and survey the wide world. Eventually they flutter out for their first attempt at flying. This part is really cute to see. It is probably also a very dangerous time for them. I tried to watch and see if they ever came back to the nest once they left, but I never did see any come back.

Our job involves church planting. It definitely takes team work. Our small part in this massive job is to train missionaries to go overseas and plant churches. This involves building a church of people and feeding a hungry flock! A previous student, Scott Phillips, wrote about a small, new church on his website. He says that “God has taken this first small group of Dao people that not more than six months ago were not even aware that there even existed a savior that died for them, and He has changed their hearts so that they have fallen in love with Him and rarely stop talking about Him.” They are like the hungry little bluebirds wanting more food. The REALITY of it is… this is what we all should be like.

This is what makes any work worth it all.

By the way, the bluebird is the state bird for Missouri!

Click here to check out our bluebird photos