Dead Birds and a Mother's Sacrifice

      On  May 1, 2013, I was sitting on the front porch enjoying being outdoors.  The screen door does not go down to the threshold, so we frequently have wrens come in under the door.  As I sat there; I saw a female goldfinch fly in under the door with something in her mouth.  She flew to the cooler that is on top of the refrigerator, dropped something on the cooler top and flew back out.
      I thought that was odd, because it didn't look like nest material she'd brought in.  In about 20 minutes she came back in and did the same thing.  When she left, I took the cooler down and saw 2 dead bugs on the top.  I saw a clump of mosses, pine needles etc. so thought she was bringing material to build a nest.  I started to clean up the mess, and saw the real nest she had made in a crumpled white garbage bag that she had pushed down between the fridge and the house wall.  I carefully picked up the bag  and looked inside.  The bag was very warm from the heat of the fridge motor.  Inside were four very tiny baby birds.  They did not move.  I poked one very gently, and it still did not move.  None of them did.  All four babies were dead.  I put the nest and the babies in a bag and disposed of them...it was very sad.  The mom came back a couple more times with a bug and saw that there was nothing on top of the fridge at all, so took it back outside with her and then didn't return.  I then thought how odd it had been that she had brought the food in, but never even tried to take it to the nest she had built.  Did she realize that the babies were dead?
        As I reflected on this scenario, I thought of all of the deceived unbelievers who work so hard and sacrifice so much to offer their gifts to dead gods.  Some leave bowls of rice they should give to their families in front of a statue, some in old times even sacrificed their babies to a dead god who could do nothing for them. 
        How precious it is that we serve a risen, living Savior!  He sacrificed FOR us.  Any sacrifices we make as an offering to the Lord is out of thanks, not out of obligation to win His favor.
       I also reflected on and prayed for all of the mothers who did not have their babies with them as they have the deepest sorrow on Mother's Day.  May the God of ALL comfort them.