After 21 years of marriage, I discovered a new way of keeping alive the spark of love. A little while ago I started to go out with another woman. It was really my wife’s idea.

“I know you love her,” she said one day, taking me by surprise.

“But I love YOU!” I protested.

“I know, but you also love her.”

The other woman my wife wanted me to visit was my mother, who has been a widow for 19 years. The demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally. That night, I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.

“What’s wrong, are you well,” she asked? My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.

“I thought it would be pleasant to pass some time with you,” I responded. “Just the two of us.”

She thought about it for a moment, then said, “I would like that very much.”

That Friday, after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited in the doorway with her coat on. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel’s.

“I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed,” she said, as she got into the car. “They can’t wait to hear about our meeting.”

We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady.

After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. Halfway through the entree, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips.

“It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,” she said.

“Then it’s time you relaxed and let me return the favor,” I responded.

During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation – nothing extraordinary – just catching up on recent events of each other’s lives. We talked so much that we missed the movie.

As we arrived at her house later, she said, “I’ll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.” I agreed and kissed her good night.

“How was your dinner date?” asked my wife when I got home.

“Very nice. Much nicer than I could have imagined,” I answered.

A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t have a chance to do anything for her.

Sometime later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place mother and I had dined. An attached note said: “I paid this bill in advance. I was almost sure that I couldn’t be there, but, never-the-less, I paid for two plates –one for you and the other for you wife. You will never know what that night meant to me. I love you.”

At that moment, I understood the importance of saying, “I LOVE YOU” in time, and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than God and your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot always be put off to “some other time.”

As my husband and I were working inside, we heard something hit the window. Looking out and seeing nothing, we stepped outside and there on the front porch was the still body of a woodpecker — a beautiful yellow-bellied sapsucker.

He had flown into the window, and, we presumed, broken his neck. My husband picked him up for a moment and stroked the red cap on his head and laid him back down.

Just then, I saw an eye blink. I was holding a utility cloth in my hand, and I picked him up and covered him, all but his head. His heart was racing wildly, and I felt just a twitch of his foot. I realized that this now helpless creature, if only knocked out, could revive at any moment and give me quite a pecking.

Instinctive caution urged me to leave the bird there and hope he would come around, and that was my plan, that is, until I saw the neighbor’s big black cat approaching in his most stealthy stalking mode.

I took the bird inside and found a box with a lid — if he revived and got loose in the house he probably would kill himself trying to get out.

I placed the bird-in-the- box in a quiet place and went about my work. About half an hour later, I walked close enough to the box to detect any activity, but there was none. Then my husband came in and spoke to me. Suddenly, there was scratching and a flurry inside the box that made me fear the lid would not remain closed.

We took the box outside, and carefully began to open the lid. As it opened an inch or so, the bird burst out and flew vigorously away to resume his place in God’s grand scheme of things.

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As I saw that cat approaching earlier, I remembered 1 Peter 5:8 – - “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour”

That little bird, in his natural healthy state, would never fall prey to the cat, but he was knocked out.

My thoughts went back 34 years to a time in my life when I was spiritually “knocked out,” I was dead in my sin and as helpless to ward off the attacks of the enemy of my soul as that little bird lying on my porch.

Then a wonderful, loving Savior reached down and picked me up. He sheltered me and let me know I was loved and protected — I only needed to trust Him. He didn’t put me in a box, but he gave me strength and the desire to “vigorously fly away” spiritually to take my place in His wonderful design for my life in His kingdom.

- – - contributed by Marie B. Corn

The bulldozer was plowing through a strip of land between the north and south highway U.S.1 in Delray Beach. Toppled Australian pines were piled in a heap, waiting to be hauled away. The black soil was churning as the blade of the dozer forged ahead at a slow speed.

There were about 50 white birds on the scene, hunting and pecking in a furious manner. They were so intent on the job at hand, I was afraid the blade would wipe some of them out ! Their long legs took them here and fro, as the bent their long necks to the ground. Their pointed bills moved rapidly along the ground gathering whatever nourishment was available for them in the soil.

My husband said the bulldozer was unearthing a multitude of hidden bugs and grubs, a veritable feast for these birds. That blade churning the earth was making a hidden banquet available for this flock of fortunate feathered ones.

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There are times when I need God’s Word and His plan to be dug up and placed before me. This need is filled when I attend church, because I always walk away feeling full and satisfied.

The minister, prayer leader, choir, and hymns are like the bulldozer.

They turn up and bring to the surface all of God’s good nibbles for me to partake in. They unearth many truths of the scripture using song, sermon and prayer, and I partake of all that has been made available to me during the service.

Just like the birds kept their beak to the ground, I keep my heart open and close to the source of nourishment.

There are many ways to receive the Word of God, but this is the one way God brought to my mind as I saw that bulldozer at work amid the flock of hungry birds.

- – - written by Marion Smith