第25期
上帝看顾飞鸟， 也看顾我！ 文：孙玉梅
行管期这几个月，我们家来了两位稀客--两 不了教堂崇拜、上不了班、上不了声乐课的日子。 只美丽的黄腹花蜜鸟（olive-backed sunbird）， 我的心情确实有一些低落，心里面也担心行管令 一雌一雄。起初，它们只是在我们的晒衣绳索上 和疫情对经济所带来的冲击会直接或间接影响家 面嬉戏，我们也不以为意。怎知过了几天，它们 里的收入。正当我心里忧虑时，神派了小鸟们来 居然在那儿开始筑造起鸟巢。几天下来，我观察 我家。我被小鸟筑巢所吸引，也暂时忘记了担忧。 着它们是如何建造鸟巢。我发现一个很有趣的现 看着小鸟如此简单、无忧无虑地生活，也提醒了 象，原来负责筑巢的是雌鸟。开始时，雄鸟也会 我不要为生活忧虑。耶稣说: “不要为生命忧 帮忙叼来一些干草、蜘蛛丝、棉花之类的材料， 虑吃什么，喝什么，为身体忧虑穿什么。生命不 之后大部分的时间都是雌鸟在筑巢。大家可别以 胜于饮食吗？身体不胜于衣裳吗？你们看那天上 为雄鸟不负责任，飞出去玩了。其实，雄鸟是当 的飞鸟，也不种，也不收，也不积蓄在仓里，你 起了雌鸟的保镖，贴身称职地随着雌鸟飞进飞出 们的天父尚且养活它。你们不比飞鸟贵重得多 的。我觉得这个工作不简单，不但要负责雌鸟的 吗？” （马太福音6：25-26）我们的天父既然 安全，还得确保筑巢的艰巨任务可以顺利完成。 看顾飞鸟，并供应它们一切所需，而我们比飞鸟 大概花了一个星期的时间，鸟巢筑好了，雌鸟下 更贵重，祂岂不更看顾我们吗？因此，我们不需 了两颗蛋后，便从早到晚都坐在窝里孵蛋。除了 要为生活忧虑。 即使生活环境和有利条件都改 早、午、晚三段时间飞出去觅食之外，它几乎是 变了，天父上帝始终依然不变。祂应许会照顾我 寸步不离地在孵蛋。偶尔，也会看见雄鸟为雌鸟 们，无论环境如何都会一直与我们同在。 叼来食物。大约近两周后，鸟蛋孵化成了两只可 我相信这是上帝在行管期要我学的功课 -爱的小鸟。这时候，鸟爸爸和鸟妈妈更加忙碌了。 就是要学会依靠祂，仰望祂，并相信祂的旨意是 飞进飞出地，忙着觅食来喂饱两只雏鸟。小鸟一 美好的。 天一天地长大，羽翼慢慢变得丰满。然后，有一 天，小鸟们飞出了鸟巢，离开了它们的鸟巢。就 这样，小鸟一家四口在我家大概待了两个月。 随着鸟儿筑巢、下蛋、孵蛋、喂养雏鸟到离 巢的日子慢慢地流逝，我们也度过了行管令头两 个月。其实，在行管令初期，我很难接受平日安 定的生活居然起了如此大的变化，也很难适应上
Issue #25
Written by: Esther Soon Translated by: Chloe Woo
During the months of MCO, two beautiful Olivebacked sunbirds had come to visit my family. At first, they were just playing on our clotheslines, so we didn’t pay much attention to them. But after a few days, they began to build their nests there. I started to observe how they built their nests and I found an interesting phenomenon. It turned out that it was the responsibility of the female bird to build the nest. At the beginning, the male bird would also help by gathering some hay, spider silk, cotton and other materials. Then, it would usually be the female bird that would finish building their nest. It’s not that the male bird was irresponsible and had flown out to play. On the contrary, the male bird acted competently as the female bird’s bodyguard, and followed her closely wherever she went. I think that it wasn’t a simple task as he had to be responsible for the safety of the female bird and also ensure that the difficult task of nesting could be completed smoothly. It took more than a week for their nest to be built. After the female bird had laid two eggs, she stayed in the nest to incubate the eggs from morning to night. Aside from flying out thrice in the morning, noon and night in search of food, she would spend her time hatching the eggs. Occasionally, I would see the male bird picking up and sending food to the female bird. About two weeks later, the eggs had hatched into two cute little birds and the parent birds became even busier. They would fly in and out in search of food to feed their offspring. The little birds grew day by day and their wings gradually became fully grown. Then, the little birds flew away and left their nest one day. In that way, a family of four birds had stayed in my house for about two months. As the birds build their nests, laid and hatched
eggs, nurtured their offspring and left the nest, we have also passed the first two months of MCO. In fact, in the beginning of MCO, it was difficult for me to accept such a big change in my life, and it was also difficult for me to adapt to the fact that I could not go to church for worship, go to work, or go to vocal music classes. I felt down, and I was also worried that the impact of MCO and the impact of the pandemic on the economy will directly or indirectly affect the income of my family. When I was worried, God had sent the little birds to my house. I was attracted by how the birds build their nests, and hence temporarily forgot about my worries. At the sight of how the little birds have such a simple and carefree life, it reminded me not to worry about life. Jesus had said: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26) Since our heavenly father takes care of the flying birds and provides them with all their needs, and we are more valuable than them, would he not care more about us? Therefore, we do not need to worry about life. Even if our living environment and favored conditions have changed, God the Father will always remain the same. He promised to look after us and be with us regardless of the circumstances. I believe that this was the lesson that God wanted me to learn from the MCO period, which is to rely on Him, to look up to Him and to believe that His will is good.