As usual when you get a lot of snow... you do a lot of shoveling. Yay!... not. So after my host mom and I were done shoveling off the back porch/patio I brushed off a layer of snow on top of one of her bird feeders, we went inside and suddenly there were birds everywhere! Big birds, small birds, pretty birds, and some scary ugly birds too, haha. I saw a group of big black birds all perching around the small bird feeders and they looked odd to me. Their black feathers stood out among the surround whiteness of snow and winter.
"I've never seen those types of birds before," I commented to my host mom.
"Yeah, I know. I see them out there and I want to scare them away, but I keep telling myself, "unto the least of these"..." my host mom replied.
At first I laughed, but then it truly struck me.
What did Christ truly mean when he said, "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40). The least of these... originally I'd thought that referred to the 'widows and orphans' lines found in James 1:27. And yet, could Jesus also have been talking about the odd looking black birds patronizing my host mom's bird feeder? The animal lover inside of me was quite surprised that I had never thought about this before. Could it be that as Christians we have a duty to look after the animals God created? After all isn't every animal, insect, and fish a representation of God's love for us...a picture of God's creativity and imagination?
Psalm 84:3
"Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young-- a place near your alter, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God."
Matthew 10:29
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them shall not fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father...So don't be afraid; you are more worthy than many sparrows..."
Is not a small bird a great reminder of the greatness of the love of our Father? Is not the greatness of our Father unfathomable when He cares for the resting place or the passing of a sparrow? This fills me with awe... as well as a sense of duty. If God cares for all His creatures, should we not also? Did God not give Adam and Eve a sacred covenant to watch over and care for all the creatures of the earth?
Genesis 1:28-30
"God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves along the ground."
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit and seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air and all the creatures that move along the ground -- everything that has breath and life in it..."
This sacred calling God gave to Adam and Eve I must believe still applies to their decedents ... us. To rule over and subdue, but to cherish them as God's wonderful and perfect creation. Maybe as Christians we need to be some of the strongest "environmentalists" out there. We cannot lose creation's wonder. Creation, I believe, gives us an unbelievable glimpse of the might, love, and awesomeness of our God.