What Do You Do When God "Reep Reep Reeps" At You?

If you've read my welcome note in my side bar, you may be wondering who it is you are supposed to be scratching behind the ears. So, here she is showing off her big, pink belly rolls. She's the furry, orange one. She's actually waving at the camera with her left, front paw. The other two are my beautiful human children.

My Writing Loft is kind of my "me time" blog (the one place I can go and not talk about mommy stuff), so you don't see much about my kids or family on here. I have an entirely different blog for my mommy stories, My Chronicles of Parenthood, but today I have a story to share on this blog that involves mommy stuff - kind of.

As you can tell by Hobbit's size, she is a 100% indoor cat. She will occasionally walk out onto the deck with us and wander to the foot of the steps and roll in the landscape mulch beneath the bushes. But, beyond that she does not stray -- ever. Ten minutes tops her outdoor excursions, and she quickly waddles back into the house. I usually leave the deck door open, and we just kind of come and go. Later I chase all the flies out of the house because I refuse to kill them -- it's not their faults afterall that they wandered in through my inviting wide-open door.

This morning, the boys and I slept in. Around 9:30 Hayden, and I wandered into the living room still shaking the extended sleep off of our bones. The first thing I usually do is open the curtains to the deck door and walk outside. This morning when I walked out and leaned over the deck rail, Hobbit came running up the stairs, and from the sound of her voice she was extremely irritated that she had to camp out last night.

Hobbit's not really a camping out kind of girl. She gets a little repulsed over bugs, and flying and chirping things send her scurrying for cover. I guess she's a valley girl at heart.

My boys were very upset with me when they realized Hobbit got stuck outside for the night. I tried to explain to them that she probably enjoyed her camping adventure, but they weren't buying it. They quickly put her bowl of fresh seafood platter canned food in front of her, which she gobbled right up, and then followed her into the bedroom and helped her curl up on the bed. I guess she intended to sleep off the trauma I had put her through. I suppose we will be battling PTSD for a while.

I have no doubt my boys were having secret conversations about what a bad mommy I had been by not noticing Hobbit had been outside all night. They may have even discussed among themselves if it were possible that I could do such a thing to them as well.

Before you think too terribly of me, it's not like Hobbit could have gone anywhere. The yard is surrounded with a six-foot privacy fence, and it meets the ground all the way around, so she can't fit under. And she doesn't like to work up a sweat, so she'd never even attempt a jump.

Just as the Hobbit fiasco was coming to a close we heard a hysterical Red Breasted Robin outside. It was screaming in a high-pitched, continuous "reep reep reep reep reep reep." There are baby robins in our tree, and they've been out there for a while now. The mommy and daddy have stayed busy feeding these little babies, and we have enjoyed sitting on the deck watching them. So I knew the instant the "reep reep reep" started up that it was Daddy Robin. I just didn't know what was wrong with him because he'd never done this before (this is him sitting on the fence next to the tree).

On closer inspection, I noticed the problem. One of the babies had fallen from the tree. He was laying in the mulch below. I ran down to check on him, and he was okay. Nothing appeared to be broken. I ran up and grabbed a rag so I could pick him up and look at him a little closer and also to give him a soft spot on the mulch. He was happy and eagerly hopped onto the soft rag. I thanked God that he was not injured, but I wasn't sure what to do with him -- leave him there or put him back.

I ran back in and checked on the internet. Thank God for the internet in times like this. I saw comments saying "definitely leave him on the ground." The problem was that I saw an equal number of comments saying "definitely put him back." Ugh!

So much for the internet.

Daddy Robin was still having a fit over his baby being down there on the mulch, so I followed my initial instinct and made the decision to put him back. I set up the ladder as Daddy Robin "reep reep reeped" and watched intently from the fence a few feet away.

Baby Robin had settled in the middle of the rag which was the perfect spot for him. I slowly lifted him in his tiny little rag sling, and Daddy Robin instantly became silent. As I climbed the ladder Daddy Robin watched from his fence perch, a tiny little worm hanging from his mouth. Mommy Robin quietly watched from the neighbor's roof. My boys begged me to be careful as I neared the top of the ladder (not for my own safety mind you, but for the sake of the tiny baby robin), and I'm sure Mommy and Daddy Robin were thinking the same thing.

As I gently tilted his sling above his nest, Baby Robin realized where he was and hopped up and into his nest on his own. He snuggled in close to his sibling and the two gently "reep reep reeped" at me as I descended the ladder. I gathered up the ladder and headed toward the deck. Quietly Daddy Robin sounded off a few "reep reep reeps." As I looked back he was flying his little worm piece into the tree. His hysterical reeping was silenced now that his baby was safe.

A few hours later, I snuck back up the ladder to snap a picture of the babies. Only one was in the nest, and Daddy Robin caught me, so I snapped one picture fast and hurried back down. Both babies were hanging out on the branches yesterday so the other one was probably in the tree somewhere.

Later this afternoon I asked God what I should blog about today. I've been asking Him this for the past few days, and I guess I haven't been listening well because my mind has been blank. A few minutes later He reminded me of that "reep reep reeping" daddy robin.

God wants to know: "How many times do I 'reep reep reep' a warning signal over one of my troubled children? How many times do you heed My call and come to My lost child's aid?" God does not physically reach out and pick them up and sit them into a nest of safety. Instead He calls out to us -- those of us who can be His hands and jump to attention when He "reep reep reeps" at us to let us know He has a child in trouble.

What do you do when God "reep reep reeps" at you? Do you look around to see what it is He wants you to do?

Do you see a bigger picture? Do you hear God "reep reep reeping" at Christians in this world -- how are we responding collectively?