Cross thoughts: Christian ideas seen in Sudanese every day life.
Our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples, “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?” Matthew 6:26. I am a bird-watcher. It is a hobby almost anyone can do anywhere at any time. Try to identify the different kinds of birds around you, wherever you happen to be. Watch carefully. Do it when you have a few minutes to spare. It can also be a relaxation for hours at a time. Remember, the Lord Jesus told you to do it! Matthew 6:26 above. Think about the lessons you can learn from these wonderful winged creatures that God has made for us to enjoy. Listen to them praising God with their songs everyday, come what may. Watch their colourful charm showing off God’s glorious handcraft.
The birds pictured above are “weavers”. They have that name because of the way they twist grasses together in nest building. I remember watching a colony at work by Shambat village, alongside the river Nile, north of Khartoum Bahri. The hard working male birds were flying from the ground to the tree canopy with their beaks full of grasses, palm fronds, roots and reeds. Once in the treetops each bird would tie real knots in the material using its beak and its feet. By tying knots, the bird makes the nest more secure. A weaverbird has a strong, conical beak, which it uses to cut. God is their (and your) great Designer.
Some species of weaver build hundreds of nests close together. Several nests will be built on one tree branch. Others may hang from telephone poles. Weavers often build on tree branches that overhang rivers to help protect the nest from predators. The nest’s narrow tube-like entrance opens upside down, making it hard for a predator to get inside. God’s way is the best way. Always.
One lesson for us not to follow is that the males of many weaver species are polygamous. They build more than one nest, with more than one female, during a single breeding season. We should never go against God’s revealed will for us, which the Bible says is one man and one woman for life in the family, Genesis 2:24.
Our Lord Jesus Christ also said, “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. 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”, Matthew 7:24-25.
Watch and learn lessons from the nature your God has given you to see all around you! You are in the middle of it for a good reason. Use it.
August 2014.
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