I was casually opening the laundry door when at the speed of lightening something brown flew at my head. I screamed and jumped back, waiting for a family member to come to my rescue. Apparently the rest of my family are so used to hearing me scream that no one batted an eyelid so, undeterred by their lack of concern, I valiantly ventured into the room alone and unarmed. I could take this on. I've done kickboxing.
I had been attacked by a finch.
Attacked is a pretty strong word, and after studying our small intruder, I decided we could be friends. In fact, the whole family could be in on this. It was time to start screaming again.
"Everyone!!! Come quickly!!!"
They came out as slowly as humanly possible. Thinking I was the 'girl who cried finch', they were prepared to be underwhelmed, but as I introduced them to our feathered friend I watched their faces light up. Pure joy had just entered the room
We decided on a creative name for our little visitor: Finch (we are lateral thinkers). The next half hour was spent talking excitedly about Finch, admiring Finch, taking pictures of Finch, and finding ways to feed Finch. Finch was our new best friend!
As we were admiring Mr Finch's red-breasted coat of feathers, Stephanie paused. "He's so majestic," she said. I stopped. God had just sent us a little bird to tell us something about himself.
"Steph," I said. "Just this morning when we were praying together, I prayed for God to reveal his majesty to you!"
I watched the little finch as he regarded us, cocking his head to watch us with one of his intelligent-looking eyes. He was so small, yet looked so regal. So tiny, yet seemed so sure of himself.
His majesty was not reliant on our admiration of him, or the attention we gave - it was what it was, just because. He was not waiting to be waited on, yet he naturally commanded our attention. He flew in and just like that, he made that laundry his kingdom.
And God chose to use something so small to reveal himself to me. It reminds me of another situation where a small child was used to reveal God to the world. Jesus, born as a child and raised in a manger, in the humblest of surrounds revealed that our God is not a god who impetuously commands us to wait on him. He comes humbly, yet it is not our estimation of Him that makes Him God. We worship Him because He is.
Grace Mathew is a Sydney-based writer and speaker.
Garce's previous articles may be viewed at
www.pressserviceinternational.org/grace-mathew.html