Spring has sprung and this morning I went outside to sit and soak it all in.  I walked over to our yard swing, that sits under the big talliberry tree in our front yard, with my coffee and just rested.  As is common with me my mind went drifting. I got to thinking how we can be going along without a care in the world and in a split second we are in the midst of a battle straight out of hell.  I also wondered about how many times could a battle come right up next to us and we never even know it’s there?

            As I sat swinging I noticed movement in our arbor at the end of the sidewalk.  Right now it is a cascade of yellow, covered with our yellow jasmine in bloom.  I just sat watching thinking about the new life that spring brings.  After a few seconds out pokes a little momma mockingbird.  Well, she’s not a momma yet, but she was busying herself flying to and fro building her nest for her future family.

            Out she came, quickly looked around and flew off.  Within seconds she was back with a twig in her mouth and back she went into some hidden place amongst the jasmine.  As I sat watching her work without taking a rest I thought, wow what a horrible place to be building a nest.

            You see the house to the right of me has an outdoor cat, the house to the left has three outdoor cats, and the house across the street two.   And knowing cats, she was a sitting target waiting to be picked off.  And sure enough within minutes I spotted a female cat lurched as low to the ground as she could get.  Without the slightest sound and without the least movement, plans were already laid out, her capture was already in place. 

            Because she was being so quiet, and because she didn’t mind bidding her time being stone cold still, the bird was never alerted to her.

            Boy, have I been in that birds place on many occasions.  Just going about my business, doing what needs to be done in a day, without ever the first awareness that something was off kilter, something was waiting to destroy me. 

            The enemy is so like those female cat (most always it’s the female cat that goes out hunting, why that is I’m not sure but they will be the ones that bring you a mouse to your front door step.)  He will crouch very low, getting and reaching as low as he needs, and will wait and watch our every move, not caring if it takes days, weeks, months or years before he hits.  And I, like that bird, am just going along swimmingly thinking everything is ok.

            My first thought was to yell at the bird, fly away, scat, go build your nest somewhere that’s safe, far, far away from these cats.  Now what a picture that would be to passerby’s, some old lady in her house robe holding a cup of coffee, yelling at her arbor.  My second thought was it would do no good.  Mockingbirds are funny little creatures.  Hard headed like a lot of people I know, some so intimately it could actually be me.  As much as a cat wants to catch and eat those mockingbirds, the birds hate those cats even more. 

            I laugh every year after a mockingbird has her babies, she will literally dive bomb a cat, and for that matter a man or boy.  I have yet in all my years of watching seen them dive-bomb a girl or woman.  Wonder why that is?  Regardless, it is hate on both sides.  When that bird is aware of her enemy’s presence, she is dangerous, she will do anything to divert any ones or any cats attention from her babies.  The trouble comes when she’s not aware.

            So I sat and watch.  That bird would fly away and no matter how long it was gone, that cat knew it would come back and it stayed close to the ground waiting.  My heart was just beating, I wanted to chase the cat off, but  I knew the second I went into the house it would be back.  So I just watched.  And sure enough back came the bird with a twig in her mouth. She quickly disappeared into the jasmine to place it among the other twigs that was fast becoming a home.  In one quick leap that cat pounced and was hooked onto that arbor.  There she hung for a just a split second, kinda suspended in time, I was guessing scared she had alerted the bird, I assumed it was part of her plan.

            Then she dove, and I thought for sure that bird was as good as cooked.  But to my surprise I saw the cat leap as fast as she had into the jasmine out of the jasmine.  What a picture, in my mind I thought good for you, spoiled again.  It’s wonderful to see the underdog come out on top isn’t it?

            I strolled on over to the arbor to check out what had caused the cat to jump so quickly.  And as I peered inside I could see that mockingbird mom busying herself making that nest, she gave no mind to me, and didn’t even seem to realize how close she had come to death.  Then there right in front of my eyes I caught a glimpse of thorns, which totally amazed me.  The only thing we had ever planted to grow on that arbor was white and yellow jasmine.  But somehow, at some point in time a bird I guess dropped a blackberry into the nearby ground.  And do you know what grows on blackberry branches?  Thorns by the thousands.  Today it was a hedge of thorns that I was seeing first hand, in the flesh – straight out of Old Testament.

            I walked away just laughing to myself.  God was watching out for that little ole’ mockingbird.  How many times I wondered to myself had I been that close to a snare, almost walking into a trap laid all out for me looking pretty?  Many I would imagine.  How many times had God’s hand intervened for me in the same way it did for this young momma bird?  Numerous I’m sure, probably more than I could count.  And how many times did it go unnoticed, me never knowing how close I was to getting my life, or something stolen from me?  Only in heaven will I know for sure. 

            Today I am thankful, thankful that even when I am unaware, still God is watching over me.  I’m as thankful for the hedge of thorns as I am the hedge of protection He has made available not only to the creatures of this world but to us, His children. I just have to go about building my walk the way the momma bird was going about building her nest, and trust that God will provide, take care, and watch over me.

We escaped like a bird from a hunter's trap. The trap is broken, and we are free! Our help is from the Lord , who made the heavens and the earth. Psalms 124:7-8