Hearing the call to freedom

We were having a morning coffee in our living room when a Great Tit flew in through the open window. It was a young bird, rather unskilled in aerial navigation. In its panic to escape the terrifying humans, it eventually found a safe perch on a curtain rail.

We didn’t want to alarm it further, so making sure all the windows were wide open, we moved out to the garden. We hoped it would find its way out. Some time later I crept back in. The bird seemed to have gone. It hadn’t. It had moved to another curtain pole. My entry caused frantic flying. It flew hard against the unopenable part of a window and fell to the floor stunned. Was it dead? Eventually the young Great Tit rose to its feet, but stayed there, occasionally lifting a wing. Was it injured? Could it still fly? Yes, it could. When I moved the sofa to give it more space, it flew up to the windowsill, where it remained motionless.

I went outside to continue to watch it. Was it scared to move? Was it waiting, as young birds do, for a parent to feed and rescue it? It only needed to move a couple of feet along the windowsill to be in front of an open window, a route to freedom. I didn’t want to distress it by handling it. That could cause a parent to reject it. It was so vulnerable and I felt helpless to help.

Then I had an inspiration. Using my phone and an internet search for Great Tit song, I found a recording of the call of the Great Tit. Standing outside, out of the bird’s sight I played the Great Tit call near the open window. Immediately the young bird perked up, moving its head, listening intently but without fear. It seemed to know the sound. I kept replaying the call. It was a familiar reassuring call for that bird. As I had hoped, it moved across the windowsill towards the sound and then flew out of the window and up into the safety of the trees.

From those trees I heard the sound of more than one Great Tit. Was that a joyful reunion with the one who was lost? And I thanked God for smart phones and the internet. And I remembered the words of Jesus about people who hear his call,

“My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me” (John 10: 27).

There are so many voices clamouring for attention during this coronavirus pandemic. Some are scary, causing panic, as my husband’s and my voices did for that young bird. Some are deceptive. Especially as lockdown begins to ease in some respects, how do you know which voices to trust?

One Voice that I know is trustworthy is the call of God through Jesus Christ. God became one of us, to save us when we cannot save ourselves and lead us into the freedom of the children of God. I couldn’t become a Great Tit, but it was the genuine call of a Great Tit that led the trapped young bird out to where it belongs.

Image Credit: Commons Wikimedia, CC License