Hubby and I were just about to crawl in bed last night, but we kept hearing a strange sound outside. It wasn’t the snow falling off the roof. It sounded more like an animal somehow messing with the house.
We had just gotten a Ring notification about 30 minute earlier of a cougar sighting by a neighbor only 2 or 3 miles away from us. So I was already having a mini freak-out session in my head (I don’t think I’ll be walking loops for exercise around the front drive the next few days!).
As hubby and I kept hearing the strange sounds I was imagining the cougar trying to get underneath our house.
Hubby said he was going to check things out … and I insisted that he not go outside! So while hubby went to turn the back floodlights on, I raised the bedroom shade and opened the window a bit to try to hear what it was. Sure enough, the strange sound was right there close by on the back deck. But I couldn’t see a thing.
Hubby flipped on the back floodlights … and there was the bear! Right there in front of us on the back deck! And it had my hummingbird feeder! The audacity! I was incensed! How dare the bear thieve my hummingbird feeder!
The bear had been batting and pawing at the hummingbird feeder, trying to get the sugar-water out. And that was the sound we had been hearing … the hummingbird feeder being pawed back and forth on the deck.
As soon as the floodlights came on, the bear stopped pawing at the feeder … and picked the feeder up in its mouth … and turned and started carrying my hummingbird feeder away! There goes the hummingbird feeder …
I was so flabbergasted I didn’t even think about grabbing my phone for a photo. How dare the bear thieve my hummingbird feeder! I was so aggravated! You can’t get that type of hummingbird feeder on Amazon anymore. They don’t sell that kind anymore. And I really really liked that hummingbird feeder!
And there the thieving bear had just walked off with it! I was so aggravated at the bear!
Hubby thought it was so funny that it didn’t matter a bit to me that a huge ginormous bear had just been right there on my back deck … or that it had just climbed up on top of the woodbox and the grill to pull the hummingbird feeder down. No. The only thing that mattered was that it had thieved my hummingbird feeder!
Hubby couldn’t help laughing. It was actually pretty funny.
And the irony was not lost on me that I had just written a blog post yesterday about how nothing in life lasts. Our belongings don’t last.
God’s sense of humor is truly funny. It hadn’t even been 12 hrs. since writing about how nothing in life lasts, and my beloved hummingbird feeder was carried off by the bear. The irony is hilarious!
Hubby at least had sense of mind to go grab his phone to try to get a photo. By the time he got a photo, the bear was all the way over at the far edge of the backyard with my hummingbird feeder.
Isn’t it amazing how he blends so perfectly into the nighttime. It was fascinating to me how that I had raised the bedroom shade and opened the bedroom window … and the bear had been right there … and I hadn’t seen a thing! Not a thing at all … until the floodlights came on.
I went to bed still stewing about the loss of my beloved hummingbird feeder. What are the little hummingbirds going to do??
It’s ok … at least there’s a feeder on the front porch … and one out the side door from the kitchen. There will be something for the little hummingbirds until I can figure out how to replace the one the bear thieved.
Oh dear … come to think of it, the hummingbird feeder out the side door from the kitchen would be very easy for the bear to reach if it wanted to. I’ll have to be careful about that one in the future and bring it inside at night. I drifted off to sleep, consoled by the thought that the little hummingbirds would be ok. There were still two other feeders for them.
I woke up this morning … went to the kitchen … and flipped on the side porch light to check the hummingbird feeder just out the side door from the kitchen. It was gone!
I hurried over to the front door … and checked the hummingbird feeder on the front porch. It was gone!
Oh no! The bear got all 3 hummingbird feeders!
I had no idea bears would go after hummingbird feeders.
Hubby, in all his brilliance, thought to pull up the front door Ring camera. Lo and behold! Check it out!
In case you were curious if a great big bear can balance perfectly on a tiny little handrail … it can!
I waited until it got daylight, then I went searching to see if I could find the missing hummingbird feeders.
The one from out the side door of the kitchen had fallen down in the grass below the steps. Thankfully it was fine and wasn’t damaged at all. The feeder from the front porch had tumbled off to the side of the front porch. Thankfully it was also fine and not damaged either. After a bit or searching in the grass and in the front flowerbed I was also able to find the two little metal hangers from which the feeders hang.
Thank you Jesus! Huge gratitude for today!
I had imagined the bear dropping my beloved “irreplaceable” hummingbird feeder off the edge into the ravine, where it probably tumbled far below to be lost forever … or else carrying it to the neighbor’s backyard and dropping it in some random obscure spot.
Or maybe … just maybe the bear dropped it at the far edge of the backyard.
Hoping beyond hope, I retraced the bear’s path across the backyard and … lo and behold! … there was my “lost” beloved hummingbird feeder!
Thank you Jesus! Huge gratitude praise!
The feeder was a bit mangled, with all the little perches broken off. But otherwise, it was still good and the glass hadn’t even broken. I was so happy! Thank you Jesus!
The little hummingbirds were very confused this morning with all 3 feeders gone. They were flying into the window … and not at all sure what had happened! I got busy right away making more sugar-water … and in short order got the hummingbird feeder hanging back outside again.
The little hummingbirds were as happy as I was!
Thank you Jesus for restoring my lost hummingbird feeder! I’m so grateful! So very grateful!
And … it is still possible for the little hummingbirds to perch on the edge, even without the little perches. Yay! Thank you Jesus!
I can’t help but think of the verse: “I will restore the years the locusts have eaten …” – Joel 2:25
Our God is a God who can restore what has been lost! My hummingbird feeder was carried away … yet God restored it back to me once again.
I also can’t help but think of Malachi 3:10 where God says: “’Test me in this,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.’”
This verse is specifically speaking of tithing. But I think it could also apply to having “open hands” before God when it comes to our possessions.
I love the quote by Corrie ten Boom about how it’s best to have open hands, because it hurts when God has to pry our fingers open from the things we are grasping too tightly.
“You must learn to hold everything loosely … everything. Why? Because the Father may wish to take it back to Himself, and when he does, it will hurt you if He must pry your fingers loose.” – Corrie ten Boom
I think the lesson in all of this is the same as the lesson from yesterday’s blog post: Nothing will last. Nothing in life will last. Our possessions won’t last. Mine and hubby’s beloved 20+ year-old cars won’t last. My beloved hummingbird feeder won’t last.
Nothing in life lasts.
Only love will remain.
I can’t help but think of Jesus’s words: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:19-21
Or … my own personal paraphrase …
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where transmissions go out and where suspension systems and shocks fail, and where bears carry off beloved ‘irreplaceable’ hummingbird feeders. But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where nothing will ever wear out, and where that which matters won’t ever be carried away.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:19-21
Nothing will last.
Our belongings won’t last. Our possessions won’t last.
Only love will remain.
The love which we show towards others and towards God, this love is stored up in Heaven. Sort of like the snow which fell off my metal roof and piled up along the edge of my back deck. Update on the snow “berm” from yesterday’s blog post: after a full 24-hrs. of steady rain, the snow still remains.
Pile up love like this. Store up love like this.
Love generously!
Because … only love will remain.
