Jewel # 48 (Nov 22, 2009)

"And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up My Jewels."
(Malachi 3:17)

To my dear grandchildren,

The Cuckoo Bird

The European cuckoo bird has a strange habit.  When the mother bird is ready to lay her eggs, she doesn't build a nest for them.  Instead, she flies to the nest of another bird who is off hunting for food and lays one egg in that nest.  Then she finds another nest where the mother bird is gone for a few moments and lays another egg in that nest.  She does this until her whole clutch of cuckoo eggs has been laid so each one is in a different nest.

When the other mother birds return to their nests, they don't seem to notice that they have a strange egg in their nests.  They treat it just like one of their own, keeping it warm and protecting it.  But when the eggs all finally hatch, the baby cuckoo bird is larger that the other baby birds in the nest.  And this cuckoo baby gobbles up far more than its share of the bugs and worms that the mother bird brings to her nest for the babies.  The baby cuckoo bird grows big and strong, while the other baby birds in the nest become weak and sickly and many times even die.

Now I'm wondering if those of us who are Christians might have a "baby cuckoo bird in our nests'?  Are we allowing anything in our lives to gobble up the time and energy we should be using to read God's Word, the Bible, and spend time in prayer?  If so, we won't grow strong and healthy in ways that the Lord Jesus wants for us.

This is a good verse to remember to help us get rid of the "baby cuckoo birds" in our lives.

"Order my steps in Thy Word: and let not any iniquity have dominion [power] over me."  (Psalm 119:133).