Mama Bird: Mother's Day 2023

Spring is a time of renewal. My sermon this past Sunday mentioned that we can enter a "spiritual springtime" by springing forth with praise! All of nature is responding in this manner with flowers blooming and creatures singing. This season is also a time of birth. I have fawns frolicking beside my yard, baby bunnies being chased out of the yard by my dogs, and as you can see from the picture, I have a bird's nest in the wreath that I put on my front door. What a messy mom! Of course, I cannot evict her until these babies hatch and fly away. Ironically, my daughter got me this wreath for Mother's Day a few years ago. So what a fitting message for this Mother's Day to be about the mama bird.

You can enter a spiritual springtime, but first you will have to spring forth with praise! –Pastor Erin Canter

The most precious part about this situation is that I love birds! I have bird pictures, bird wall décor, bird salt and pepper shakers, new bird pillow covers and more! To be able to actually look through my peephole and see the bright blue eggs, mama bird. and baby birds is pretty exciting! There are a couple of things that I noticed about this mama bird: She chose a particular place and created a beautifully made and very safe space for her babies.

"Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O Lord of Heaven's Armies, my King and my God!" - Psalm 84:3

Mama Bird Created A Home!

I didn't see the mother bird make her nest, but it fit right into the wreath. As you can see, it was perfectly constructed for her babies when they arrived. We, as mothers, should build our homes according to Scripture. There are 5 things that fit together to establish a strong and supportive nest for our children.

• God's Love: This is agape love, the kind that only derives from God! It is longsuffering, kind, it believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. It never fails and it binds a home together (See 1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

• God's Truth: This is not the way you think your home should be, and it certainly is not the way the world is doing things. What does God's Word say? This is the thread of Truth that must run through the home! "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17).

• God's Words: Let the communication from your mouth be wise and edifying. Speak life as you place each piece together. "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers" (Ephesians 4:29). "Death and life are in the power of the tongue..." (Proverbs 18:21).

• God's Strength: His strength is found in His presence. His strength is what keeps your home from falling apart through the storms of life (See Psalm 27). We had some vicious winds, but that nest stayed right on that wreath. That's strength!

• God's People: Surround yourself and your children with Godly influences! We need community. "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:24-25). "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).

Mama Bird Protects Her Babies!

Every time my door opens and closes, we hear mama bird screaming at us from the tree! It upsets her that we are near the nest and she is trying to protect her babies. As mothers we should protect our children! We need to defend our children and fight for them in the spiritual realm.

1. Cover them with prayer! Cover them like the mama bird covers her babies with her feathers! Pray over them, pray with them, pray for them, pray through their room. Pray, pray, pray! And be specific. "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6). "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:" (1 John 5:14).

2. Remain dressed and prepared for battle! Be prepared to fight in spiritual. You cannot fight spiritual with physical, but only with spiritual (the Word of God). Put on the full armor. Spring forth with God's praise. Become a worshipper. (See Ephesians 6:10-18 and Psalm 34)

3. Maintain and teach boundaries! Keep things out that are harmful and keep those babies in until ready to fly. "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).

By the way...we now have 10, yes 10 duck eggs behind our shrub in front of the house! Yikes! Babies, babies, and more babies!

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