Hummingbirds

Back at the ranch again, Jim and Lilia relaxed up on the roof of the lean-to. “Look, Jim,” Lilia said quietly and pointed at a mother hummingbird sitting in a carefully constructed nest on a low-lying branch of a queen palm tree. They gazed at the conical miracle. “It looks like green plastic, but I think she constructed it from spume and greenery collected from the area,” Lilia whispered to Jim in awe of one of God’s creations.

Jim peered into Lilia’s amazing turquoise eyes, and said, “Lilia, you’re a hummingbird, too. Your life hums at the speed of light just like the hummingbird’s does.”

“What kind of bird or animal are you like, Jim?” Lilia asked with curiosity. She tilted her head at him and wondered if he’d play along with her.

He chuckled and replied, “I’m probably a tall and proud elk, but to keep up with you, I’m forced to be a coyote.” They laughed easily together.

Over a period of eighteen days, Lilia and Jim watched the nest. She pointed out every change to Jim. The two little eggs hatched and became two tiny little beaks, which stuck straight up from the bottom of the conical home. The beaks emerged into heads, and then the bodies became visible. One little hummingbird tried out its speedy wings, and then poked at the back of the other hummingbird with its beak to tell it,” Move over.” Eventually, the only way that the two little birds could fit in the nest was similar to shoes in a shoebox: head to tail and tail to head.

Jim and Lilia knew that it wouldn’t be long before the little birds took flight. The next morning they climbed up the ladder to the top of the lean-to, and looked down to view that the birds were gone. Star jasmine grew up the side of the barn and lean-to. Lilia and Jim lay on their stomachs and observed as the mother hummingbird and the two little hummers feasted on the nectar. Jim felt sad that the birds had grown too big for the nest, but he took solace in the perfection that the miracle of God displayed in their growth. He realized that it was no different with Lilia. God displayed her growth for the world to see, too.