an you hear your Father's voice in your chaotic life? An arctic tern chick taught me a lesson I'll never forget. #fathersvoice #devos #write28days #devotional #Christianwalk #selfcare

Can you hear your Father’s voice in your chaotic life? An arctic tern chick taught me a lesson I’ll never forget.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah 6:8
an you hear your Father's voice in your chaotic life? An arctic tern chick taught me a lesson I'll never forget. #fathersvoice #devos #write28days #devotional #Christianwalk #selfcare

Looking for Rarities

After spending 45 minutes looking for a rare duck in a marsh next to a busy highway, I returned to my car triumphant. A group of photographers crowded near my front fender. “What do you see?” I asked.

“A baby tern,” a photographer replied.

Sure enough, right there, practically in the parking lot, an arctic tern chick blended in with a grey granite rock. The tern chick waddled on impossibly short legs over the bumpy surface of the large boulder.

I snapped photo after photo and finally paused to look at them. Suddenly, the baby tern squawked insistently. One of his parents swooped down and shoved a tiny fish in his mouth before I could get my camera back into position.

A Father’s Voice

I had other places I wanted to go, but the gawky tern chick mesmerized me. It calmly reigned from its rock, not fifty feet from a highway filled with rumbling trucks, zooming cars, and coughing RVs.

Hundreds of arctic terns and gulls wheeled overhead, calling to their chicks below in the marsh. Vehicles entered and exited the parking area, some pulling to within six feet of the chick.

The cacophony of noise threatened to overwhelm me, and I wondered if the tern chick heard anything at all. And then I noticed a curious thing. Within seconds of the baby breaking out in insistent squawks with his mouth wide open, a parent always appeared with food.

Somehow, despite the chaos, the chick could hear its father’s voice from far overhead. It would tip its head back and spread its beak as wide as it could, leaving the perfect target for an incoming food delivery. Sometimes, the delivery seemed more than the chick could handle.

Between feedings, the chick quietly wandered around the rock, preening, and stretching its undersized wings. It seemed impossible that those tiny wings would carry it on a 12,000-mile journey in just over a month.

More Than I Bargained For

Two hours later, I had hundreds of photos. As I crawled back into my car to head home, a sense of peace filled me. I want to be like the arctic tern chick, so attuned to my Father’s voice amidst a chaotic world that I spread my mouth wide and answer, “Here I am! Send me!”

Even if the sending involves tasks that seem overwhelming or more than I can handle. I know my Father will equip me and sustain me.

How do you hear your Father’s voice in your chaotic life?

an you hear your Father's voice in your chaotic life? An arctic tern chick taught me a lesson I'll never forget. #fathersvoice #devos #write28days #devotional #Christianwalk #selfcare

15 Comments

  1. Anita, this post is just beautiful and encouraging in both words and photos. More so, it was the reminder I needed this morning. We can hear the Father’s voice in the midst of this chaotic world if we simply call out to Him. Thank you for sharing this post today!

  2. I’m so thankful He hears our every cry and answers. And I’m thankful He speaks to us, and we hear His still small voice because we are His.

    I’m really enjoying your focus on nature and I’m learning about new animals and trees from your area. Thanks for sharing your photos and your research, Anita.
    Lisa Blair recently posted…3 Ways to Hear the Voice of GodMy Profile

  3. Anita, this post was amazing! I learned so much from your post, not only about arctic terns, but about listening to my Heavenly Fathers voice! Thank you for sharng this incredible lesson!

  4. A story about love, loyalty to God and the power of human connection
    On his first dive into fishing the airway that separated him from his father was closed by a piece of floating debris
    The fish was swimming quickly to reach a place of safety in the water
    The sea otter had the option to swim fast to avoid becoming prey or go slow and swim for his life hoping he can evade the hungry eyes of sea otters who sometimes even make it through a meal
    He found the spot where his father once had been waiting without swimming. There, where the currents were still, he waited patiently to get home safely in the next wave
    Suddenly, a sea otter arrived and tried to grab this stranded animal. It became a tug-of-war between humans and this otter
    In spite of the otter’s desperate attempts, he never caught fish and so had to go back to his parents to say goodbye and send the message his heart was crying out to his absent-father
    The next day, after fishing for some time in the same areas as before he came back to shore to meet with the same spot knowing this place was now under water due to heavy rain and rising…
    ShunCy recently posted…How to grow spaghetti squash from seedMy Profile

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Anita Ojeda

Anita Ojeda juggles writing with teaching high school English and history. When she's not lurking in odd places looking for rare birds, you can find her camping with her kids, adventuring with her husband or mountain biking with her students.

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