The Tale of the Bird and the Feeder

Recently, I have put up a bird feeder in my back garden. I was expecting to be inundated with birds: sparrows, bluetits, great tits, robins, goldfinches, coal tits, wrens, birds of paradise (... okay, perhaps not the last one), but what was I rewarded with? A pigeon. A dull, greedy pigeon. Thankfully, the smaller birds have discovered the feast I am providing for them but for a few days, my only visitor was this boring pigeon. 

This experience has inspired me to come up with a moral story:

Once upon a time, there was a hungry bird flying from one garden to another in search of food. On coming to the final garden of his usual route, he spotted something unusual. Standing in the middle of the lawn was a feeder full of seeds, mealworms and suet pellets. With no other creature in sight, the hungry bird cautiously approached the new discovery and tentatively began to peck. Gaining courage, he ate his fill until is stomach was satisfied. 

Excited about his delicious finding, the no-longer-hungry bird was about to fly off and tell all his friends when a thought occurred to him. "If I tell everyone else, they will come and eat all the food and there will be none left for me." So, the no-longer-hungry bird flew straight home instead.

For the next few days, the bird regularly visited the garden with the feeder, benefiting from all the healthy food the gardener provided. After some time, however, a voice could be heard from inside the house. "Every day I put food out in this garden but only one bird comes to feed. Maybe I should stop bothering." Panicked, the bird realised its mistake. By being greedy and not telling his friends about the food, he will no longer benefit from his wonderful discovery.

The moral of this tale is, if you find a good thing, tell and share it with other people. Keeping it to yourself may seem a good ideas to begin with but over time it may diminish or disappear. We can apply this to Jesus' love for us; don't keep it all to yourself, let everyone else know about it too.

©Copyright Martin Wheadon 2019