For the past number of years I’ve had the great joy of watching birds nesting in a box on our house wall. We have a wee video camera inside the box which is linked to our TV. Some years it’s been Great-Tits, other years Blue-Tits.
This year it was the Blue Tits again!. I didn’t think we had any nesting this year as the foliage around the box had been pruned back and it wasn’t well camouflaged. Also – the camera seemed not to be working.
One day I noticed some Blue-Tits coming and going and we managed to get the camera working again… only to discover the nest had been built, eggs laid and there were 3 growing chicks!
They are nearly ready to fledge and I think will be away in the next few days!
BUT… 2 days ago I heard a knocking and I couldn’t work out what it was or where it was coming from. After going outside and watching for a bit I noticed the woodpecker that lives in the woods coming and trying to make the entry hole bigger. My TV screen showed it popping its head into the nesting box and I realised it was trying to get the wee chicks… PANIC! I could scare it away… as long as I sat and noticed when it was coming around, but I couldn’t sit there all day!
Last night I woke a few times and was convinced that it was attacking the box to get the chicks again … This morning … all was well, chicks intact and Mum coming into bring grubs etc. to feed them. But I noticed the hole had been pecked at and knew the Woodpecker was still about.
Mark managed to order a metal hole guard to protect the hole from any more damage and put a temporary metal strip over the pecked part.
You see, last year, we had Tits nesting there with 6 wee chicks and one morning when they’d been hatched for a week or so, we found the opaque glass window smashed and no baby birds there. I have to admit I was really sad, but really had no idea what had happened… until this year!
I hope we’ve managed to protect the chicks from Woody, this year, so they are able to fledge and do well, but it got me pondering again!
How it is that when we are unguarded, the attacks of Satan come to steal kill and destroy what is developing in a good healthy way. Like the Woodpecker, Satan has no other intention than to steal, kill and destroy… no care that the chicks have been carefully tended and nurtured until they are almost ready to fend for themselves… and how tragic when he succeeds in his mission.
I realised that we need to be always alert to the “woodpeckers” in our lives… Those thoughts, those people, even, who come to knock us down, belittle and destroy our confidence. we need to continually guarding our minds and what we allow to settle there so that one day we can really find freedom and fulfilment in being who God created us to be.
Psalm 147 tells us that God strengthens the bars of our gates… so we can stay secure in His Word and protection… gates being the places of entry and authority.
Let us make sure our entrances and windows of our lives are firmly secured…take up the full armour of God that we can stand against all the schemes of the evil one! Then we can grow and fly at the right time!