Mum would sometimes say that she knew something because ‘a little bird told her’…
Yesterday at our church community café Dave was telling us that he’d bought a pair of parakeets. Looking after pet birds is one of many areas of ignorance – so I was pleased to learn about where to buy them, how much they cost, what they eat… Dave lives on his own; the parakeets will provide Dave with companionship.
Earlier this week I was collecting Grandson-Luca from his home. As we returned to the car a seagull ‘dive-bombed’ me, almost touching my head. Landing on the car in front of mine it looked at me and squawked loudly, angrily, repeatedly. I was in no doubt what it thought of me!
Pakefield’s ‘Trowel and Hammer’ claims to be the oldest pub in Lowestoft. Its name comes from the working men who originally frequented it. Stories are told of a parrot, that, many years ago, was kept in a cage behind the bar. This particular bird, that was reputed to be able to speak, used to entertain and amuse customers.
I have the ‘Merlin’ app on my phone. It listens to the birds in our garden and identifies them, telling me if I’m listening to a robin, wren, or goldfinch… I’m getting better at distinguishing the birds without Merlin’s help, but if I’m not sure, Merlin will identify the little birds talking to me. Merlin helps me to listen better!
This morning I was delighted to discover the verse: ‘Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird in the sky may carry words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.’ your
Mum’s saying has a Biblical origin!
Today I shall hear many voices – comforting and friendly… resentful and angry… entertaining and amusing… I pray that Like Merlin I shall be better at listening, and take greater care over what I say – because a little bird may pass it on!
malcolmsmusings.org 
Very interesting about the origin of “a little bird told me”
However, I have always been unhappy and uncomfortable about caged birds or any animals.
My mum at one time had a couple of budgerigars and even then I was always happy when they were to fly around in the evening.
I’ve been to many zoos and have always disliked seeing large animals caged up. I know Linton Zoo in Cambridge and Banham Zoo do marvellous work conserving dying populations of animals. But, as well as hating seeing them caged, I am also not sure whether we ought to protect all animals. We know millions of species of animals have become extinct over the life of our planet. Are we not playing God in trying to halt evolution? Similarly, are we not fighting nature trying to stop climate change. Obviously, we have accelerated climate change to a small extent and we ought to try to stop polluting the atmosphere. But, can we really.
I read that during the ice age that we are still coming out of. We came out of the Glacial Period (200,000-10,000years) and are now in the Interglacial Period. In the Palaeolithic age humans were nomadic and went where there was food. Then, during the Mesolithic and the Neolithic Period, as the ice fell back more and more and humans could cross from the European continent to our land, they started to stop and farm the land where they were.
Unfortunate, the people in Africa and elsewhere where the climate has reduced their food supply aren’t able to move to where the food is. They’re now called refugees and most countries don’t welcome them.
I’ve gone off on one again haven’t I Malcolm?
So, I won’t say how I hate the way we have so changed the earth with vast building projects. We don’t preserve life. We kill off more and more wildlife as we expand our building programmes.
I would love to know what your God would say about how we have used our free will.
Friday’s rant over.
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I love your rants, Alan. As I see it what we do with our freewill is key to all of these issues. God’s response to the way we use our freewill is a discussion for us sometime – not a brief paragraph. I look forward to it!
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