Compassion

Yesterday Craig was tackling the Mt. Everest of Laurel Hedges, armed with various cutleries (some with motors, some with nothing more than human muscle needed to operate) and stumbled upon a nest with two freshly hatched birds tucked carefully inside. Sadly, we had destroyed their protective covering and severely disrupted their safe retreat. We himmed and hawed over our options. To attempt to raise them ourselves would require feedings every 1/2 hr, a schedule made impossible by my own offspring. There was no 'home' to return them to and even though I gave it a shot, our parakeet wanted nothing to do with them. I tucked them back into a bush that was nothing like their home, put a heated pad underneath their nest and prayed. Foolish though it may seem, their little open beaks pleading for food haunted me all night long and was the first thought on my mind when my own little nursling roused this morning. My heart felt sick, honestly, at the thought of these wee orphaned birds quietly dying in their little human-fashioned nest, a mother without her young. In the wee hours of this day as I snuggled with my sleepy baby, the word compassion reverberated in my head. What I felt for these nestlings was compassion, a deep and some may say, foolish, compassion. In that quiet moment, God reminded me that I was made in His image and that the compassion I felt was an attribute passed on to me by my Father. The deep-seated compassion that consumed my night time thoughts was similar in nature to the compassion the Lord has for me! I was astounded!!!

Ps. 86:15 "But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth"

Ps. 111:4 "He hath made his wonderful works (that would be US!!!) to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion"

Ps. 112:4 "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious and full of compassion, and righteousness"

Ps. 145:8 "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy"

How much more a loving, perfect God towards His beloved creation than a sinful, imperfect woman towards some orphaned birds. I am profoundly astonished, truly in awe...

(Sorry, didn't mean to 'leave you hanging', as my friend Leanne, noted. The birds, as one might guess, did not survive without their mother to tend to them. Another stark reminder in nature of how desperately we need our heavenly Father...)