The Sun Also Rises

The sun also rises, and the sun goes down…Eccl. 1:5
To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born and a time to die…Eccl. 3:1-2a

It’s Tuesday night and just a little while ago, a mourning dove was in our green feeder. There were several reasons why this was a problem. You may be wondering what was wrong with a bird being in a feeder when, after all, that’s the reason we have bird feeders—to attract birds. Well, first of all, it had been dark for a couple of hours and as anyone knows who runs a feeding station, restaurant hours are between sunrise and sunset. Our patrons show up at the crack of dawn and they begin to leave at dusk, with the cardinals usually being the only latecomers before night actually falls. After that, no birds. So the fact that he was there at that hour was the first problem.

The second problem was that he was not eating, but seemed to be just resting, and he was resting there in the pouring rain. Since I was letting my cocker spaniel dog out (this breed is intense about chasing birds and squirrels), and I didn’t want the poor feathered fellow to have to contend with that, I went out first (in the rain) to encourage the soaking creature to fly off. That was the last problem: He let me get right there next to him and he either didn’t care or was too weak to leave. I gently tapped the edge and he reluctantly fluttered away, barely making it over our fence.

So, what did this all mean? It tells me that another of God’s creatures is about to die. Something is wrong with him and he’s dying. And if he manages to make it back to our feeder during the night, he’ll die there. We’ve had this happen several times before and it always makes me so very sad. I wish I wouldn’t react that way about the death of lowly animals—especially wildlife—but I always do. And it’s always a reminder of that verse I just posted: there is a time to die. It’s a given. Just as the setting of the sun is. And it’s another of the all things that are determined by our Creator.

I won’t post this until the morning and I’ll comment on whether I find him in the place he’d chosen as his final resting place. I really hope not.

Well, after the sunset, the sun always rises. I hope that makes sense. That mourning dove broke into my world of thinking almost nonstop about the other part of the verse. As of today, our grandchild has officially been 37 weeks and three days in her sanctuary. It is getting closer and closer to the time when she is due for her sunrise. Again, need I say that the “when” is another of the all things determined by her Creator? Pray with me please for her safe arrival. Pray for her mommy too. Pray that God might be merciful to us and this new life might bring joy to us all. That mourning dove has no soul, but this baby does. Pray for the reality of another verse in Ecclesiastes that she will remember her Creator in the days of her youth, before the difficult days come. I am surely praying that the Lord will give us this blessing and that He’ll give all of us the blessing of helping her!