Joel found another bird! He found it as we arrived at the house of our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Lyons. Our three children called the Lyons’s children, and soon we were all gathered around the bird. It was a grackle, and it wasn’t moving.
At first we thought its wing was hurt, but soon we realized that the wing was fine. However, the bird was very sick.
You may already know that a grackle is not a pretty bird like a robin or a cardinal. They are not well-liked where we live. There are too many of them, and they are noisy pests most of the time.
As we stood around the sick bird, it seemed everyone had the same idea.
“I think we should put it out of its misery,” said one.
“The world’s better off with one less grackle,” said another.
Then, to our surprise, Mrs. Lyons came out of the house with a towel in her hand. She planned to rescue the bird! “I have a friend who works for the Bird Rescue Center,” she explained. “They rescue birds of all kinds. Please call my friend while I wrap the bird in this towel.”
She gently wrapped the bird in the towel, and Mr. Lyons went to the phone while the rest of us looked on in amazement. She was going to save a grackle ... a worthless bird?
But even kind Mrs. Lyons must have had a little doubt because she called after her husband, “Ask them if it makes any difference if it’s a grackle.” We thought it most certainly would make a difference. Surely not even the Bird Rescue Center would want to save a grackle!
We were wrong. They said to bring the grackle over! So as we shook our heads in disbelief, our friends went to take the sick grackle to the Bird
Rescue Center.
Have you ever felt like you were worthless? Many children and even older people feel that way. Not one of us is worthless, however. We know how much something is worth by how much someone is willing to pay for it. What might seem worthless to one person might be worth millions of dollars to another person. Do you know how much you are worth to God? You are worth so much that He paid the highest possible price to buy you back from Satan, who had stolen you away from God and was taking you to hell because of your sins. The price God paid was to give His own precious Son to die for you. This wonderful truth is found in a verse you probably know very well: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever [believes] in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)). Have you come to the God who loves you so much?
Messages of God’s Love 4/16/2023