The Vacant Birdhouse

      We live in a wooded area, where there are a variety of birds. We enjoy them and have several bird feeders and a hummingbird feeders. Blue jays, cardinals, sparrows, woodpeckers, grackles, doves, titmouse, chickadee, hummingbirds have visited the feeders and enjoy the birdbath in the yard.
      We also put up a variety of birdhouses, in hopes of providing homes for the birds.
There are two birdhouses attached to the back of the house, and a cloth bag, by a door,
had once had a nest. Also we invested in a novel idea-- a birdhouse, that attaches to a window by suction cups, with the window side open, so the inside of the birdhouse can be viewed through the window. Hopefully, the birds would chose to nest in this house and one could see the eggs hatch and the baby birds, as they grow. This birdhouse was installed on the window, outside where I work and I was hopeful to have a family of birds
move in and keep me company.
      However, though occasionally, a bird perched on the little house and peered at me, they did not even venture into the birdhouse. They also did not move into either of the other two wooden boxes, hanging on the house But, they did peck two holes into the outside window frame, of the second story of our house. They found insulation between the wall and scattered the insulation on the ground below. They presumably, made nests, within the holes, that they drilled, into the window frames of the house, not far from the wooden boxes, that we hung for them.
      One day, there was a storm, with strong gusts of wind. When the storm was over, the novel, newfangled birdhouse, that attaches to the window by suction cups, had become lop-sided. It appeared that several suction cups had malfunctioned, so the birdhouse was only connected to the window by one suction cup and was now precariously hanging crooked! So much for that newfangled idea! I had worried that the suction cups might not hold, and sure enough, they did not. The birds showed more discretion in picking spots for their nests, than we did! It is very good that they did not chose that birdhouse for a nest, as the additional weight might have caused the whole birdhouse to disastrously crash to the ground. So, it was gimmicky to have a birdhouse on the window, just to watch the babies.
      Jesus spoke of such a situation in Matthew 7:24-27:
 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

      We would do much better to follow the example of the birds—avoid unstable birdhouses for homes and pick somethings more solid. (However, we are planning to have the holes, that they drilled in the house, repaired, so it would be better if they just drilled their nest holes in the trees.)
      Therefore, let us build our lives, by following the truth and teaching of Jesus.