Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* Comparisons
* Scripture: Jesus said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”, Mt. 17:20b, NKJV - See also Lk. 17:6)

Hot pursuit! I’ve seen it often, yet each time I’m intrigued by the fervor with which they carry out their mission. It would seem to be an unequal contest, reminding me of David and Goliath, yet an obvious size differential doesn’t seem to be a factor. My bird reference guide gives a typical length of eight and one-half inches for the blackbirds to the crow’s seventeen inches.
To put that into perspective, assuming that he didn’t go swat and you go splat, how far down the street would you chase a guy who measured in at eleven or twelve feet tall? Yet these little feather-weights buzz the much larger bird like fighter planes after a big bomber until the intruder is well beyond their territory. Protective, yes indeed!
As I ponder the scenario taking place over my head, I wonder if I am more blackbird or more crow. Certainly I can admire the zeal with which the smaller birds defend their territory, even though the odds are heavily stacked against them. Would that I could defend my beliefs and my faith with such fervor. I am reminded of the many times that a problem seems just too large and daunting to even start resolving it.
Then again, can the smaller birds really do much harm to the crow? I don’t know for sure, but I seldom see falling feathers, or the crow battling back. So let’s just say that the crow perceives it as more of an annoyance than a life shattering event. So maybe there are times that we should just put more things into perspective, and not make what are truly annoyances into life shattering events, and play the part of the crow to their “blackbirds.”
I got to thinking about how many times we turn it around the other way - small problems send us packing. Little things get to us, irritate and annoy us. We make molehills into mountains. Little problems seem to be big problems, and we get squeezed in the middle. Ever feel like that?
Now that’s what Jesus was talking about. Why would anyone want to drown mountains? (Mt. 21:21) He is really making a size comparison. Big, big problem, big as a mountain? Suppose you say, “Just look at that mountain sized thing that I am facing, and I feel as small as a mustard seed in comparison.” Then think, “Big doesn’t matter, to a mustard seed, a blackbird - or me!”
Little things flitting around till you feel like the crow? Just say, “Hey! They can annoy me, but they can’t put me down.”
“Mountain, go jump in the lake.”
June 12, 2005

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Job said, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” Job 42:3b, NIV

Bird Brain! Perhaps you’ve heard that epithet used as a putdown for someone who did something a little bit stupid. Lacking in thinking power; a few bricks shy of a full load. Fewer brains than God gave a goose!
Now I’ve noticed a number of birds this past week, which started me thinking about real bird brains, and I am impressed! Capo the Rooster provided the initial inspiration, as I watched him fly/jump up on a hay manger in the barn, walk along the narrow board like a tight-rope walker, and jump down where he spotted a grain of corn on the ground. All of that activity took quite a bit of coordination and balance. Granted, Capo can’t read, but let’s see you jump up three feet from a flat-footed start, land on a board one-half inch wide, and walk the length of it without falling off. You’ve got two feet, just like he does.
I watched a goose pass over my head, glide toward the surface of our pond, and perform a perfect landing a few feet from the bank, in the midst of several other geese. God did indeed endow geese with a flight controller system that works quite well. Sometimes we can’t find our car in a parking lot, but many birds fly thousands of miles during migration, and can return to the same nesting or feeding grounds year after year. So what if they can’t read a map?
A crow picked up something from the field I was mowing, and flew off with it. Food for little ones? I don’t know, for I couldn’t follow. Crows manage to feed themselves year ‘round, and have quite a varied diet. I watched as a crow fluttered toward a landing in the thin, top branches of an apple tree. “Too small,” I thought. “Those little branches won’t support you.” But they did. And the crow sat there, bobbing and weaving in the breeze, probably smirking.
We humans sometimes become so self-impressed with our attributes that we had no part in creating that we forget the role of the One who created all things.
Like Job, we sometimes get a lesson in humility from observing God’s creation. One of the wonders of the universe has to be the brain, bird size or otherwise. As the Bible admonishes in Proverbs, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard. Learn her ways and be wise.”
Take time to read God’s reply to Job, chapters 38 through 41. God begins by asking, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations? Tell me, if you understand.”
The ostrich and the stork are endowed with quite different traits (39:13-18); and God asks, “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south? Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?”
Yes, we need on occasion to reflect on God’s greatness, and respond as did Job, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:5-6
May 25, 2003

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their own kind, and every winged bird according to its kind.

Corvids and hominids - will they always be at odds? According to tradition, at least, the accepted way to keep the corvid out of the garden and corn field is by placing a replica of a hominid on guard duty. Does a scarecrow work? It probably impresses people more than it scares crows!
“The Corvids - crows, ravens, jays, magpies and jackdaws, are the Einsteins of the bird family; no other birds even come close to matching their intelligence. Crows live in close knit family groups. They communicate -- some 23 distinct patterns of caws have been interpreted -- and they cooperate with each other. At work, they don't stab each other in the back, and back home, they don't cheat on their spouses -- crows generally mate for life.” (http://www.clcookphoto.com/crows.htm)
According to this entry in the on-line reference, Wikipedia, “Social life: “Young corvids have been known to play and take part in elaborate social games. Documented group games follow a "king of the mountain"- and "follow the leader"-type pattern. Other play involves the manipulation, passing, and balancing of sticks. Corvids also take part in other activities, such as sliding down smooth surfaces. These games are understood to play a large role in the adaptive and survival ability of the birds.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/)
The crows that spend their days in my central Ohio neighborhood may be more perfectly matched to their chosen environment than us Hominids - people. Crows seem to go about their business in all seasons and weather, even in times that send me scurrying for shelter. They seem to know that when I head out with the tractor to work the field or mow the pasture, food will be available in the form of insects or worms. I am impressed by how gracefully and skillfully they move about, whether on the wing or on the ground.
I figure that they do us all more favors by the pests and carrion they devour than the thievery they are reputed to engage in at the garden. I have never felt the need for a scarecrow, but I have a long list of mammalian scofflaws that ravage the goodies. The rabbits go through my supposedly rabbit-proof fence; the groundhogs dig under it, and the deer jump over it. The crows just sit in the trees, probably laughing at the entire circus. I did see them picking some grain from volunteer wheat that grew along the edge of the garden, but the wild turkey hen and her chicks spent more time there than the crows.
The proverbial saying, "To eat crow,” means to abase oneself; be obliged to accept or do something extremely disagreeable. In the context of Judaism, the Biblical books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy specify animals that must not be consumed. While the crow is not mentioned specifically by name, it likely may also be considered to be unclean according to the characteristics mentioned in the list of the birds of the air.
All in all, I have no quarrel with the crows. If they were good enough for God, they are good enough for me.

Become a "Sower" of God's Word.
Tell others to check out the comprehensive web site - Seeds for Thinking
http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Jesus said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”, Mt. 17:20b, NKJV - See also Lk. 17:6)

Hot pursuit! I’ve seen it often, yet each time I’m intrigued by the fervor with which they carry out their mission. It would seem to be an unequal contest, reminding me of David and Goliath, yet an obvious size differential doesn’t seem to be a factor. My bird reference guide gives a typical length of eight and one-half inches for the blackbirds to the crow’s seventeen inches.
To put that into perspective, assuming that he didn’t go swat and you go splat, how far down the street would you chase a guy who measured in at eleven or twelve feet tall?
Yet these little feather-weights buzz the much larger bird like fighter planes after a big bomber until the intruder is well beyond their territory. Protective, yes indeed!
As I ponder the scenario taking place over my head, I wonder if I am more blackbird or more crow. Certainly I can admire the zeal with which the smaller birds defend their territory, even though the odds are heavily stacked against them. Would that I could defend my beliefs and my faith with such fervor. I am reminded of the many times that a problem seems just too large and daunting to even start resolving it.
Then again, can the smaller birds really do much harm to the crow? I don’t know for sure, but I seldom see falling feathers, or the crow battling back. So let’s just say that the crow perceives it as more of an annoyance than a life shattering event.
So maybe there are times that we should just put more things into perspective, and not make what are truly annoyances into life shattering events, and play the part of the crow to their “blackbirds.”
I got to thinking about how many times we turn it around the other way - small problems send us packing. Little things get to us, irritate and annoy us. We make molehills into mountains. Little problems seem to be big problems, and we get squeezed in the middle. Ever feel like that?
Now that’s what Jesus was talking about. Why would anyone want to drown mountains? (Mt. 21:21) He is really making a size comparison. Big, big problem, big as a mountain? Suppose you say, “Just look at that mountain size thing that I am facing, and I feel as small as a mustard seed in comparison.” Then think, “Big doesn’t matter, to a mustard seed, a blackbird - or me!”
Little things flitting around till you feel like the crow? Just say, “Hey! They can annoy me, but they can’t put me down.”
“Mountain, go jump in the lake.”
June 12, 2005