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Thoughts of...Birdseed
With the approach of winter, we recently did for the first time what many people here in Arizona do every year – seed a winter lawn of rye grass. It appeared to be a straight-forward job of broadcasting a mixture of winter rye seed and fertilizer, and then keeping the soil moist by watering three times every day for two weeks. This simple job, however, turned out to be much more than that.
I quickly discovered that a 50 pound bag of winter rye grass seed is actually 5 pounds of grass seed and 45 pounds of bird seed! The seed/fertilizer mixture had not been sown more than a few minutes when several dozen birds showed up for lunch. Where did they come from? How did they know that seed had been sown? To protect my investment in grass seed and to keep our new lawn from dying before it even grew, I raced outside to chase the birds away. With the lawn cleared of the little thieves, I contently went back inside. No sooner had the door closed behind me than the birds returned and continued their feast. This time, there seemed to be more of them! The marauding horde had no fear of me. So I chased them away again. And again. And again. This pathetic cycle would have continued for the entire two weeks had I the time to devote to it. I was helpless against the unending attack of the destroyers of our lawn.
Once, the sprinklers came on and the swelling herd of birds took off – only to congeal again merely feet away in the street, where they patiently waited for the sprinklers to shut off. Aarghh! After a while, the sprinklers did not even phase the vermin and they kept on grazing.
Unsure that enough seed remained to result in a thick, even green carpet of a lawn, I re-seeded and continued to water. And the birds were delighted. I furiously erupted out the door, hoping to frighten the thieves into looking elsewhere for a safer place to eat. The voracious multitude fled with a tremendous roar but flew no further than the rooftops of the surrounding houses. I stood in my driveway, hands on my hips and glaring at my hated enemy. And the gluttons glared back at me, mocking me with their chatter! I lusted in my heart for a BB gun as I searched the rooftops for Genghis Bird (my father taught me that if ever attacked by a gang, I should beat up the gang leader and the gang would flee). So, with nostrils flaring and eyes hunting, I muttered to myself, “Where are you, you good-for-nothing, dirty rotten devil?!” At that moment, my Father turned on the Light.
1. This is exactly what happens every time the Word of God is sown (, )
2. Satan is the thief that steals the Seed of the Word of God sown in the hearts of men (, , , )
3. Satan never stops, his diet for destruction knows no boundaries (, )
4. A chased-away devil returns, bringing even more trouble unless Jesus moves in ()
5. I am no match for Satan, but Satan is no match for Jesus (, , , Rev 19:1 – 20:10)
6. Sow the Seed frequently and liberally (, , , )
7. Continually water the hard, rocky ground and the Seed sown (, )
8. Leave the birds to God (, , , , , , )
9. Trust your “lawn” with God (, )
Pastor Doug
PS. Our lawn, in spite of the best efforts of all those birds, has come up beautifully! And the birds have gone elsewhere.
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