It was a cool night in mid-May. My wife and I had just returned from the mission field just 2 weeks earlier. I had gone to a friend’s house for a meeting with other members of my church. We were there to discuss how we would follow up on recent converts from a local Billy Graham Evangelistic Association event. I never expected my friend’s daughter to remind me about our relationship with God.
As we sat in the kitchen before the meeting, drinking coffee and talking, I saw the young girl don a pair of gloves, hat and sweater and slip out onto the porch. She walked up to a hummingbird feeder, which was located on a deck off of the kitchen. What I saw after that left me amazed. I have loved hummingbirds since I was a child. I always thought they were so interesting and they remind me of the beauty of God’s creation. Maybe this is why the scene impacted me so much.
She reached the feeder and put a hand on either side of it. She then became completely still as a half dozen hummingbirds immediately flew up around her, with one getting mere inches from her face. They rested on her hand and were trying to get nectar from the buttons of her sweater. She did not blink or fidget as they buzzed around her head.
Her mother told us how the birds tend to walk up and down her hand when she doesn’t wear gloves. She then said how her daughter has mentioned that when she closes her eyes and listens that she can tell the difference between the male and females hummingbirds by their sound. Not by sight but by sound!
I was amazed. I went home that evening and told my wife and her parents, who we were staying with at the time, what I had seen. I have never seen this kind of interaction before between hummingbirds and people. As I was falling to sleep that night I was reflecting on the beauty of God’s creation and then it hit me. I saw a parallel between my friend’s daughter listening to the hummingbirds and a Christian listening for the Lord’s voice. I was reminded of 1 kings 19:11 –13, which talks about the Lord coming in a gentle whisper. Reflecting on this scripture I thought about how this little girl remained so still at the feeder and just listened to the sounds of the hummingbirds. This is exactly what we, as Christians, should be doing in our quiet times with God. Instead of coming to Him with a list of requests and saying amen, we need to take the time to be silent and listen to His voice. The Bible says we will know His voice. (John 10:4) We can only know it if we take time to listen.
I am glad I saw the “hummingbird kid” that day. God used her to teach me more about His character. I don’t know if hummingbirds will always fascinate her as she grows up but I am glad they did on that day. We accomplished a lot at this meeting but I think God taught me a whole lot more about Himself as well
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