Living by leaving our cares

These are pictures from 2008, when Robins were noticed in our garden since we started living at 350 South Road in the Christian Medical college campus, Vellore in 2001. 

As I began to follow their presence and behavior in the rear portion of the garden, adjacent to the Bamboo grove, I noticed one Saturday afternoon, a male Robin gathering pieces of dry leaves form the ground(picture1). It flew away and returned after a short while. It repeated this a few times. As I watched it fly away into the wood, I was able to locate its destination with the binoculars. It was into a hollow in the trunk of a tall tree. A little later, I noticed the female Robin at the mouth of this hollow(picture2).

For the next three months or so, I spent Saturday afternoons in the garden to keep watching the Robin.

One afternoon I noticed the Robin with food between its beaks (Picture 3) ready to fly away into its nest in the hollow of the tree trunk. That was the first indication that the eggs were hatched and there were little Robins in the nest.

As I recollect this fascinating life cycle of this family of birds, I realize that they follow a pattern that suits their habitat.They are tiny birds, often left to the mercy of other birds such as Parrots, Warblers, Koels, etc. These birds can chase the Robins away. And yet they have formed a family and survived the odds. On a bright sunny winter Saturday, it was a delight to see both the Robins, sunbathing on a tree next to its nest, the male Robin with  food between its beaks(picture4).

I recall the words of Jesus of Nazareth, 'Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow or reap, but their heavenly Father cares for them'. Jesus spoke these words to His close companions, to communicate the need to be freed from anxiety.

There is an inner state of anxiety all of us carry with us in different intensities. Anna and I, as we leave Pondicherry to relocate in Kerala, in another five days, too carry a measure of anxiety. It is on such occasions the story of the Robin and the words of Jesus come together to assure us, that , 'to live is to leave our cares upon Him who promised to care'. When we slip in to anxiety, the consolation is that God still cares for us, even more.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)