First Baptist Church of Herndon

The Feeder is Empty

Linda Soller | Oct 12, 2020

Back in August I wrote a parable “The Feeder”. This is not a parable, but somewhat of a sequel. The other day, a bright sunny and somewhat cool day, I noticed there was a lot of activity at my bird feeder. One might have called it a feeding frenzy. It was fun to watch. That evening when I went out to retrieve the feeder for the night, I was shocked to see it nearly empty. The gang – as I call my regulars – had consumed double their daily supply. Good thing I keep it full. It wouldn’t have been so surprising in the dead of winter, but the day’s weather gave no clue as to why they were so hungry. I could nearly hear them saying, hey the feeder is empty get your act together. 

Later in the doom and gloom of the daily news a thought came to me. My little feathered friends were making the most of the situation. They know there is no guarantee what tomorrow will bring. We humans do much the same. We squirrel away items we can’t imagine being without. In times of stress we indulge a little more, thus the COVID-19 15lbs! Creatures great and small plan in order to avoid possible dangers and unwanted sacrifice. We consume while we can. So, you know what that means? It means that no matter what each of us does to help others, there is always more to do.

As part of God’s Church, we know to take care of those in need, those who can’t take care of themselves, those who suffer, those less fortunate. Most of us really do try. But our attention span can be short at times. We find ourselves thinking it’s someone else’s turn. Truth is, no matter how full we make the feeder, the seed will be consumed, and there will be some who are left wanting. With that thought in mind the next morning I filled the feeder to the top again, remembering the need for seed continues. The need for sewing the seed of faith continues. The only way to address it is to keep telling ourselves the feeder is empty. Is it time you added some seed?

Be the good in the world! :o) Linda