A CHANGE OF PLANS - 9/29/20

 

A CHANGE OF PLANS

BY: PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi

 

Do you ever think that you are going to be doing one thing, but quickly find out that God has other plans for you? This summer has been a wonderful time of working in the yard and planting flowers and shrubs that will attract birds, butterflies and hopefully bees for years to come.  I have been so looking forward to the cooler weather and the opportunity to stay outside from early morning to dark evening, but God had other plans.  A couple of months ago I tripped on a chord and landed hard on the floor.  After a brief few moments I got up and went about my day.  I worked in my yard and took long walks each morning in my neighborhood.  But, as time went on I began to have a lot of pain at my knee.  I went to the doctor, but was told it was probably arthritis, so I continued working in the yard and walking.  But, one day on my walk it took so long for me to get home that Dennis came looking for me.  I welcomed a ride home in his pick-up.  After an MRI it was found that I have a fractured tibia plateau which is the long bone between your kneecap and your foot. So, God has redirected my steps. 

As I sit on the couch and allow my bone to heal, I am praying and realizing there is much to be thankful for.   I don’t have a lot of pain as long as I don’t put weight on my leg so that frees me to do a lot of things such as reading articles and watching a lot of YouTube videos on birds.  Thank God that He gave me the Scripture “Look at the birds of the air…” Matthew 6:26 several years ago because there is such a wealth of knowledge for me to learn about birds!  Being an amateur birdie, I can make mistakes and learn from them without too many people coming down on me, but at the same time I find it exciting to learn about birds and share it with others.

Since one set of my grandchildren are distance learning from their home, we have begun a Friday afternoon class called “Bird of the Week.”  We have the same field guide and each week we learn interesting facts about a bird.  They are elementary age and have developed quite an interest in birds.  It’s funny how children enjoy learning about sort of “gross” things.  Usually they really remember and learn a lot the grosser it gets.  One of the things that I have shared with them that they absolutely loved was how God created a way for momma birds to keep the nest clean.  When the baby bird poops it comes out in a “fecal sac” that contains the poop and the momma bird grabs it up and quickly disposes of it outside the nest.  I had written an article about it several months ago and I shared this information with their Mom who in turn shared it with them.  They laughed and laughed! They have shared the story with me several times because they love to laugh about it.  Last week they watched a National Geographic bird special.  In the video a camera was placed to watch everything going on in a nest.  The camera caught the Momma bird quickly taking up the fecal sack, but this time she ate it! Oh, they loved it and were grossed out at the same time.  Why did she eat the poop?  Audubon.org says that the sac “serves as a nutritional treat. Parents will eat the feces because the nestlings cannot completely digest the food that they eat.” So much nutritional value will be left for the parent bird. 

So as I look at the birds of the air on YouTube sitting on my couch or laying on a quilt in my backyard in the cool of the fall day, I plan to share with you things that I learn, make the best of this healing time and choose to be thankful because I know that God is good all the time.

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E-mail: birdieofmississippi@gmail.com - Read my Blog @ http://www.birdieofmississippi.blogspot.com