Was that a WW II Japanese kamikaze dive-bomber plane, or what? As our daughter-in-law walked through our front door and into the living room, it dived out of the blackness of the night sky, brushed past her ear, then on into the kitchen, where it began to buzz my wife.
The first point of business: How to get it out of the house? Simple. Turn off all the inside lights, leave the porch light on, and in about two seconds it blasted its way outside like a rocket to the moon.
Some horrible vampire bat-like thing? Some frightful creature from a horror movie? Not at all. Just the cute little hummingbird who built its nest in the ficus tree just outside our front door. My son and daughter-in-law brushed against the tree, sending the hummer into its nighttime attack mode as it defended its home and family.
This is the second hummer nest we’ve had this summer. The first one is hatched and gone, experiencing the empty nest syndrome, you might say. They’re faster than we are, but we’re smarter (in some ways). We can stand inside the living room and spy on them through the window.
My wife has been impressed with how totally devoted they are in defending their nest and young. More than devoted, actually. More like a single-minded determination that knows no obstacle big enough not to be dealt with if it threatens hearth and home. And this leads her to observe how different the human species would be if more people had a good dose of hummingbird family preservation commitment. God seems to have programmed this wonderful quality within what must be an exceedingly small hummingbird brain. The bird couldn’t behave differently if she tried.
But God took the somewhat riskier route with his human creation. In our domestic relationships, as well as other areas of behavior, he gave us the ability to use our discretion based on our level of faith. Let’s pray we can at least reach and maintain, if not surpass, the hummingbird’s level.
Ecology is about how organisms relate as they share common space. The hummers are doing well. Having behavioral patterns imprinted by instinct doesn’t leave them much room for improvising. But we humans have heart, soul, spirit, mind, imagination, willpower, compassion, faith, hope, and love akin to God’s love, all of which makes for excellence. When we use these gifts God’s grace has made available to us, the quality of our family relationships will soar as if we all wore hummingbird wings.