One day I was canoeing down a river in an out-of-the-way part of Canada. I could tell from my map that there was a high waterfall ahead, around which I would have to carry my canoe and supplies.
As I rounded a bend of the river, I could hear the roar of the waterfall, even though I was still 200 yards from it. I slowed the canoe and kept close to the bank of the river as I looked for the portage (trail) around the falls.
I could feel the water was beginning to flow quite swiftly as I searched for the portage. Backpaddling to slow the canoe, I noticed a branch floating by with a young bird clinging to it.
The mother bird was fluttering around, chirping and scolding, trying to get the young one to fly to shore. But it would not leave the branch which was now rushing towards the waterfall. When her fluttering and scolding didn’t do any good, the mother suddenly pushed the young bird off the branch, so that it had to fly to keep from falling into the water. The young bird flew to a tree on the shore where it was safe.
Although what the mother bird did may seem cruel, she saved her young one from going over the falls. How often the Lord works this way, too. Perhaps He has brought unhappiness into your life and you wonder why. What the mother bird did seemed unkind, but it was really the best thing for the young bird. So if some problem makes you turn to the Lord and, as a result, you acknowledge your need of Him as your Saviour and believe Him, it will then be for your good. How much better to have problems and unhappiness if it turns you to the Lord. God has shown His love to us by giving His only Son to die for our sins on Calvary’s cross. There He suffered and died for your sins, and now He waits to save everyone who will come to Him just as they are.
ML-05/03/1987