The Parable of the Cardinal

A few years back we had a bird feeder. Our girls were so excited to see all the different birds that came to our feeder. We had a book and checked off the pages of the ones we'd seen. It was fun to identify new birds and keep a list of our feathered friends. I still have that list. It carefully tells the story of the finches, robins, hummingbirds, tropical buntings, grackles, warblers, titmice, blue jays, bluebirds, owls, woodpeckers, sparrows and my favorite the Northern Cardinal. The males are a bright red and the females a more muted color with a regal pointed crown. They love to sit in the tops of the trees and warble to each other. Their call was so distinct and clear that even if I had my back to the window, when the cardinals made their chirp I knew which birds were at the feeder. When we would take walks or ride our bikes in our nearby woods, I could always tell if a cardinal was in the tree top by their call. After a time the racoons found our bird feeder and would raid it every night. Finally they destroyed it as it came crashing down due to their heavy weight and big scratching claws. Some years later when we were walking in our favorite neighborhood woods we heard some birds calling. Craig said, "that's a cardinal, do you hear it?" There were so many other birds singing at the time that I couldn't identify the cardinal. I strained to pick out my favorite bird but could not. I realized that I'd forgotten the song of the cardinal and therefore could not identify it. I related this to hearing the whisperings of the spirit. When we are in tune and listening every day, it's easy to hear the one song we're searching for. Even when so much other noise is around, if we reaquaint ourselves daily (and practice listening) to the spirit, we will always know it. The Savior said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." John 10:27