Last year, we bought two little society finches and a bird cage to add a touch of nature to the home. It so happened we ended up getting a male and female. The male quickly built their nest and the female started to lay eggs. Within a matter of a few weeks we now had a family of 5 society finches. It was fun to watch the process. The birds are very social, in fact I could see how the parents taught their young the basic principles of flying, eating and even taking a bath. They would chirp and sing to each other, but unfortunately they were messy. When spring-time came we put the birds outside in the shade where they could scatter seeds and poop to their heart’s content. Eventually we decided that it might be a good time to let the birds be free. The climate was very nice, there’s vegetation everywhere so why keep them confined in a cage. So I opened the cage door with a clip and just let them do whatever they decided. After several minutes I could tell they were getting very curious as they each kept looking out the door. After about a half hour, two of the children flew out and were free. Several hours later the 3rd child flew away and the two parents were left along with a few new eggs in the nest. What I found interesting is the mother bird started to chirp and off in the distance one of the children would chirp back. This went on for a long time, back and forth.
I had left the bird cage outside with the door still open for many hours until it got dark out. I expected an empty cage, but the parents hadn’t left. I did the same thing a few days later. I looked at the birds thinking “Don’t you want to be free? Don’t you want you want to fly away and enjoy life?” They just looked back at me with their little blinking eyes as they kept their eggs warm and protected as if to say – “We will not abandon our little ones”
Well, perhaps a sappy observation but an observation to ponder nonetheless. Every mother seems to have this instinct within them to care for their children. Even mothers that are only a month or two old themselves such as these little birds. I don’t believe a mother’s nature is simply an “evolved” trait, I believe it’s by design from the beginning by our divine Creator.
I am a soon-to-be dad. I feel like a rookie at the whole parenting thing. I’ve read books, taken classes and listened to plenty of advice. The two most commonly mentioned pieces of advice I’ve heard are 1) For the dad, whatever shred of manhood you thought you had – it will all go out the window along with the dirty diapers you’ll being carrying to the trash and the banged up mini-van you’ll be driving. 2) For the Mom, motherly instincts will begin to kick in and she’ll know what to do.
Mothers are truly a blessing. With the amount of sacrifice they go through to raise us, I’m sure the thought has crossed their minds once or twice that it would sure be nice to fly away and be free. Yet they just look at us with their little blinking eyes and say “We will not abandon our little ones”. Thanks Mom!!