I can’t say that I really enjoy washing dishes, but I often find my mind wondering over a variety of topics as I stand performing that necessary duty. One bonus, however, is that my sink is at a window, so I can look outside and watch the birds at the birdbath and bird seeder. They will fly from sitting on a nearby branch, down to the feeder, then back to the limb. Or will fly to the birdbath and splash around. There is something about watching them I find relaxing.

One verse that often comes to mind when I am watching the birds is this one from Matthew 6:26:  “Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they?”

One day as I was washing dishes, I saw a good size dove just sitting on the edge of the birdbath. It sat there for quite a while, I imagine, just enjoying the sunshine. This time I called to mind that when Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph brought Him to the temple.

²¹ And when eight days were completed so that it was time for His circumcision, He was also named Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. ²² And when the days for their purification according to the Law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord: “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice according to what has been stated in the Law of the Lord: “A pair of turtledoves or two young doves.”  Luke 2:21-24 NASB

As I watched the dove and thought about that passage, this thought came to mind: “I wonder who caught the birds?”

We were told in the Book of Leviticus that those who could not afford a lamb to offer as a sacrifice could offer the turtledoves. But who caught the birds? My sanctified imagination started going into overdrive. I could picture a small boy laying on his belly, maybe up under the edge of a bush, with a string in his hand waiting for a bird to go underneath the basket several feet away. Once the bird went under the basket to peck at the mound of grain, the little boy would pull the string connected to the stick holding up the basket, and voila! I could then see him carefully lifting the basket to get his hand on the bird to add to the others in a cage made of sticks to carry to the market to sell. I wonder how long he had to lay there watching? How many birds of the wrong species did he have to shoo away waiting for the right kind of bird suitable to be offered for sacrifice? Did he know the bird he just caught would be bought by Joseph, to be offered in the temple as a sacrifice for Mary giving birth to the Son of God?

Well, I guess instead of chasing a rabbit, my mind chased after that bird. I have no idea how things were handled in Bible days. Perhaps there were vendors who sold the birds used in sacrifices. Or perhaps God the Father allowed those turtledoves to land right into the hand of Joseph. But as my mind chased that bird and I thought of that little boy patiently lying under the edge of that bush, it made me think of how he was just performing a duty, a task. He was probably being obedient to his earthly father who was the vendor at the market. And when he took his birds to his father, he was given a smile and a, “well done, son.”

As I finished washing up my dishes, another thought came to mind. I hope someday to hear, “well done, child.”

“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” Colossians 3:23-24 NASB