CLEOEJACKSONIII.COM
  • My Home Page
  • My Life and Ministry
  • My Ongoing Thoughts
  • My Favorite Bible Verses
  • My Favorite Stories
  • My Favorite Jokes
  • My Favorite Quotations
  • My Favorite Web Links
  • My Contact Info
"Helping Others Communicate"

FOR THE BIRDS…

5/19/2022

 
As a little boy, I was absolutely scared out of my wits the first time I ever saw the movie, The Birds, by Alfred Hitchcock.  But not so scared that it stopped me from watching it again and again on those rare occasions whenever it was shown on TV!

Of course, the fact that I tuned in was also due, in no small part, to the fact that I had a crush on Suzanne Pleshette (who was later to portray Emily, Dr. Bob Hartley's wife, on The Bob Newhart Show). That plus the fact that I also thought Rod Taylor was way cool – sort of like an everyman “James Bond”.  But I digress…

The one part of the movie that scared the heebie-jeebies out of me was the scene where Tippi Hedren was seated on the bench outside the school, and the birds were amassing for an impending attack on the children.  When that attack came, it was gruesome; and I have never forgotten it.

These days, I understand that the whole scene was masterfully staged by Hitchcock.  In fact, ii is only in this day and age of digital movies that an attentive viewer can recognize that very few live birds were actually used.  The vast majority of perched birds were fake ones (never moving), periodically interspersed for effect with a few live (and visibly animated) birds.

Hitchcock’s one blooper in the scene is evident without digital slow motion.  All the gathering birds in the scene are black crows. Yet, when the ensuing attack on the schoolchildren actually occurs, most of the birds appear to be white seagulls!  But who am I to question the master?

These days, birds don't really scare me all that much.  After all, down through the years, I’ve fairly well mastered them.  As a small boy, I took my BB gun and killed a bird that was raiding my father’s fruit trees.  Later, as a hunter, I went on to harvest my share of turkeys, geese, ducks, dove, and quail. 

But nowadays, I've come full circle.  Granted, the walls of my man cave are now adorned with mounted specimens of the various species of birds I just mentioned.  Perhaps this is why I now spend less time wanting to master them and more time appreciating them, both for their beauty and for the blessing they so often bring to my life.

In this regard, perhaps, I have even more in common with Noah of old than I thought.  As I referenced in my previous post, I am finding that, in my old age, I now share his proclivity for horticulture. 

The Biblical text also relates how Noah, having raised a family, built an ark, gathered the world’s animals, and survived the flood, likely came to value and appreciate the significance of birds in his life.  As Genesis chapter 8 makes plain, Noah first cared for, and then received, a blessing from both a raven and a dove.

And thus, in addition to hours spent planting fruit trees, grape vines, and berry plants, I have been busy as of late hanging bird houses.  To begin with, I have now hung multiple song bird houses.  Trees all over our property have attached boxes for them to inhabit and propagate within.

In His famed Sermon on the Mount, Jesus admonished us to consider the birds of the air, which neither sow nor reap crops, nor build structures, but are nonetheless taken care of by Him.  I guess, in this case, just as He did with Noah and the ark, the Lord is simply using me to care for them.  And in turn, He is using them to bless me, just as they did Noah.

In addition to song bird houses, I have also added duck boxes all along the creek that runs adjacent to our yard.  Armed with little more than a Google search’s worth of knowledge on the subject, I have now constructed and hung multiple such boxes.  Hopefully, as the internet assures me, migrating waterfowl will soon stop off on their journey and recognize and appreciate the nesting location I have provided them.  Thereafter, when they return in late January, they may well decide to settle down and raise their brood right here on our property.

If and when they do, I assure you (at least from my perspective), that they will prove a blessing to me, as did the raven and the crow to Noah of old.

For like Noah, I will be reassured in that I will be reminded that the God of history is the God of eternity.  Thus, the same God Who judged the world for its sin, and then wiped out the world for its sin, is the same God Who went on to declare that “as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease”.

For ever since that day, all the world’s fruit trees and grape vines and berry plants combined have continually born their offspring in their respective seasons. 

As have the birds of the air.  In the process, each successive generation of these, in its respective time and place, has only gone on to enhance and enrich the lives of men and women around them. 

Each of my duck houses consists of little more than four or five wood planks, a few metal screws, and a handful of cedar shavings. Yet, combined, these things bespeak the unfolding of untold generations of waterfowl to come.  Given this, to say the least, their construction and hanging are visionary beyond measure.

Next February, when the time comes that ducks return to our area in order to mate, I will know whether or not my efforts have all been for naught.  I cannot say for certain, but for now, my best guess is that I will be rewarded for my efforts.  And like Noah, I will rejoice in the birds God has used to bless me.

SCRIPTURE SOURCES:   

https://biblehub.com/bsb/genesis/8.htm;
https://www.biblehub.com/matthew/6-26.htm.

SEE ALSO:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(film);

NOTE:

The screenplay was based upon the 1952 collection of short stories of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, itself clearly inspired by hordes of Nazi airplanes cruelly attacking England in World War Two.  Cf.: https://www.filmsite.org/bird.html.

Comments are closed.

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All