Jesus once explained that while “foxes have holes and birds have nests” he didn’t have a bed to sleep in. Well foxes still have holes, but human interference means that lots of birds no longer have nests. Take swifts for example. The loss of their nesting sites in the UK has led to a collapse in numbers which have dropped by over half in 20 years.
Concerned by the screeching of swifts desperately searching for nesting sites, retired salesman John Stimpson decided to do something. He started making nesting boxes. But not just a few. Over thirteen years he turned out 30,000 of them – that’s enough to provide a home for half the UK’s swifts. Stimpson responds to this achievement by remarking “I get so much pleasure from wildlife. Building these boxes is one way I can pay it back”.
Stimpson’s concern for creation points us to the creator in whose image we are all made. We were designed to steward rather than exploit the natural world and our care for creation reminds us of a creator who cares about us. On another occasion Jesus told his friends not to worry. He pointed to birds who always seemed to have enough to eat and said, “How much more valuable are you than birds!”