September 2021

We watched as a couple of birds tirelessly built a nest, one twig and piece of grass at a time. We tried to keep them from building there, as 15 feet away, there are two trees that are taller than our two-story house, but they were relentless. So without permission, they built their nest on the bracket that holds up our security light above our garage door. No sooner did they build it, Momma was sitting on the nest, and we knew surely, there must be eggs inside the nest. In no time at all, there were chirping little babies. A reminder of God’s goodness and the cycle of life. Knowing what the average bird nest looks like, I thought of the way God has given the birds the instinct to design a nest to cradle and protect the eggs. It has borders on the sides, which serve as a boundary to keep the eggs, and eventually, baby birds from falling out of the nest.

What ingenuity!

Here are the definitions according to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary:

A border is the outer edge of anything, the extreme part or surrounding line; the confine or exterior limit of a country.

A boundary is a limit; a bound. This word is thus used as synonymously with bound. But the real sense is, a visible mark designating a limit.

Just like with our children, I thought about what happens if we don’t implement borders and boundaries for them. Our children will not learn to “stay away from the edge,” which
represents danger in some form or another.

“Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call they walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.” Isaiah 60:18

Only two days after the birds started chirping, we noticed one had fallen out of the nest and was dead in the driveway. It was then we noticed the design flaw of the nest. It was flat, and not curved with sides like a typical nest. My husband and I worked on a ladder to “fix” the nest. We put the two remaining babies back in the nest and put a cardboard support underneath in case they rolled out again. Unfortunately, the next morning, baby bird number two was dead in the driveway. We never found baby bird number three, but the parents abandoned the nest.

Hey parents, how is your nest? This story of the devastation of the family of birds should serve as an example for you. Your children need you to instill in them borders and boundaries.

Remember the protection of your children hangs in the balance.

“He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.”
Proverbs 25:28

Help make this more interactive so we can reach out one to another. Let me know what some of your borders and boundaries that you have in place for your family.