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A Mother's Love...
by Karin Morrison

Last month, on a very hot day I noticed that the bird feeder was empty. It holds about 5 pounds of birdseeds and needs to be refilled every three days. I was not in any hurry because I felt that the birds could find bugs to eat, due to the warm weather. What I did not think about was to refill their water dish, which was a large, deep iron pot, setting on a metal fence pole. When I finally remembered to do so, I found a dead female cardinal, with a grasshopper in her mouth, inside of the pot. When I looked closer, I noticed 2 small dead baby birds underneath her, dried to the bottom of the pot. At first I was puzzled, but quickly got the sad picture.

The babies must have flown into the empty pot, but could not fly back out. The pot got too hot from the sun and the Momma bird was desperately trying to feed her babies, who had died from the heat. Finally the Momma bird died as well, because she refused to leave her babies, still with the grasshopper in her beak. This little bird was braver, more faithful, than any human I ever saw and made me feel very ashamed and small.

And if anyone ever tells me that animals don't go to Heaven, I can tell them honestly that they are totally mistaken! I KNOW for sure, before any human will ever enter the gates of Paradise, this Momma bird will beat everybody there...EVERYBODY

I only wish I would have done my job and filled the pot up with water sooner. I might have been able to prevent her and her babies suffering and dying.