“So he went and did everything according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook.”
1 Kings 17:5-6 (NASB)
This Bible story describes how ravens brought food to the prophet Elijah twice a day, after he was sent into hiding, being hunted down by an evil king. The Lord told Elijah to reside by a certain brook and drink the water, while He commanded the ravens to bring him food twice a day.
The story always sounded mythical, with ravens doing such things, until noticing a most interesting and unusual behavior among the wild birds that I routinely feed in my yard each morning.
Since retirement has slowed down my pace of living, I started to enjoy feeding birds every morning. I leave them crumbs of whole grain bread in a certain area of my yard and watch as ten or more little birds come and eat the bread crumbs within minutes. Sometimes they are joined by a rabbit and a squirrel, but it’s the behavior of the birds that most fascinates me.
Later on some mornings I would find one single bread crumb lying on my front doorstep and I know I didn’t drop it there. It had to be a bird, giving it back at my front door.
I wondered if I was going crazy for thinking that a bird could be giving me a thank you gift?
I became so curious about this that I looked it up on line to see what the experts say. Lo and behold there are a multitude of articles on line about a species of “gift giving birds!”
Scientists say that birds who are members of the “Corvid” species, are the smartest of all wild birds, known to bestow gifts on people who they see as taking care of them.
Scientific evidence shows that Corvids act differently around people they are familiar with. The species includes crows, ravens, jays, magpies and jackdaws. I had to look their images up to see if any looked familiar. The magpie looks like the small black and white bird who flew up to my front window one day, looking into my home.
There is even an article on line about an eight year old girl who fed crows every day and one brought her back a gold heart locket, leaving it for her as a gift. Crows are attracted to shiny things and scavenge anything such as beads, buttons, earrings, jewelry, paper clips or any other shiny item lying lost on the ground. They then give their shiny gifts to a caring human.
I was thoroughly amazed at the many true stories described by researchers about wild birds who reciprocate the kindness that humans show them, by leaving gifts.
I hope I am not boring anyone with all this bird info, but it seemed that learning all this was extremely therapeutic for me. It has been an exceptionally stress filled week trying to get Medicaid approval for a much needed CT for Jon. He needs the scan to rule out hydrocephalus, and ensure that the shunt in his brain is still working. An appointment was supposedly made, but later it wasn’t, which led to a lot of confusion from the NH. The Nursing Director said he will try to get his scan scheduled.
Sometimes if we set ourselves apart from all the stressors of daily life, and focus on some aspect of nature, it can have a very calming effect. For some it might mean being near a body of water, a forest or mountains. The more we appreciate nature, the more we love the God who created it all, and can truly relax.
I found a new joy in learning amazing facts about wild birds and observing their behavior, particularly in leaving gifts of bread crumbs on my front doorstep. When we think about it, the behavior and instincts of these gift giving birds is simply reflective of the Creator who made them all.
“Giving back a gift to the Giver,” is a concept that is instinctual in birds because their Creator placed it within them. We humans do it as well, and also teach it to our children. Whether in secular or faith matters, giving back to the Giver is always the right thing to do.
We give back to God by giving Him our time, talents and our treasures, since everything we have comes from Him. Whatever we give back to Him is like a little breadcrumb that we leave on His doorstep each day.
Lord, all creation sings of your glory, and we can see your majesty from the smallest creatures in nature to the vastness of the oceans, mountains and forests. Complete your peace in us as we see your love through all that you have made. Amen
