Mickey...

... my little yellow pet parakeet, for the first time in one year and a half (!!!), has just now discovered the little bathing tub!!! It looked as if he couldn't believe the fact that this thing really doesn't bite and so he hopped in and out several times over and over again!! Even the water didn't look hostile to him anymore!

At first glance one might think that this subject does not really belong here. Yet I was absolutely amazed by what I have just seen and I am happy for my little 'mischief', who came to us totally traumatized back then. In the meantime, he got well used to living here with us and does not fall off his perch in shock anymore, everytime something unexpected happens - even if it took quite a while for him to learn! And then, and even more important, I was reminded of the above mentioned Matthew 6:26, in which Jesus tells us of how much God loves and cares even for these little creatures!

So this subject does belong here! For just think of it - of how much value are YOU for God, if He even cares so much for these little birds? Let me tell you of the experience with little Mickey that reminded me of all that:

The Lord provided for Mickey to come to us, after having spent the first half year of his life in a much too small cage that was crowded with other birdies, having no possibilities to ever leave that cage and fly around... God made me go to that breeder at the right time to get a little compagnion for Johnny, my other parakeet, who was mourning so deeply because of the loss of our mutual little friend Chico (who you can still see on the pictures in the Galery), who had died shortly before and I was afraid Johnny might not survive his grief.

Since I did not want to have a female and this little lutino (as completely yellow parakeets are called) was the only male closer in age to Johnny than all the other birds there, I did not have a choice, really. But since Johnny took his mourning so bad, I didn't want to serach around for a long time and simply took Mickey home.

At that time, I had not really pondered his life's circumstances - I guess I would not have taken him, had I been aware of the traumas he had gone through. They caused him never to totally trust me and come on my finger, for example. But Johnny seems to be closer to him than he was with Chico... This made me sad at first, but seeing them both together is a total joy! I now understand that God wanted me to have this constellation!

The first weeks at home, Mickey was simply panicky, flying hectically around without watching his surroundings, thus bumping into objects and even walls... dangerous... Only very slowly, he became more quiet. It took him an awful lot of time to grasp that those funny things hanging in the cage were swings, which are fantastic to play on! It also took time until he understood that those two little holes in his cage are there to hop in and out; that this weird, big green stuff outside is great to land on its branches and that one can even nibble on those delicious leaves! Johnny showed him everything - now that he is the 'big' brother!

In the meantime, both have become friends. They are enjoying the big two cages that are always open at daytime. Even now, Mickey doesn't fly much, he prefers running over the roof tops of the cages and branches and I get the impression as if he sometimes intentionally sits in the biggest cage all alone, thus enjoying all space to himself! Yet most of the time, they are doing everything together. They have what they so desperately needed before - Johnny a compagnion which made him blossom again, and Mickey an adequate surrounding for birdies - God provided for both of them!

Well and now look at the above mentioned Bible scripture again, yet this time, in the context of the whole prargraph, verses 25-34. You will see - if God cares so much for birds, how much more will He care for YOU, for He loves you so much!

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.