Yesterday I kept hearing scratching outside my window and it sounded like it was coming from the drain pipe. I thought, “Oh no, maybe a squirrel or a bird has gotten stuck in there?” It sounded like something was frantically trying to scratch their way back up through the gutter so they could be free, but the metal surface was too slick. They had nothing to grasp onto.

 

I went outside and tried to disconnect the drainage pipe from the base but it was in there so tight that I couldn’t separate the two. Once outside I heard nothing and was puzzled. I had a hard time believing something was really trapped in there. Maybe a stick had fallen in? I didn't know what to think but the noise had stopped and I forgot to ask my husband to check it out when he came home.

 

Early this morning, the scratching noise started again and my husband was able to squeeze the drain pipe up out of the base so whatever was in there could escape. We quietly watched to see what might crawl out of there. After a few minutes of hearing nothing, we started hearing a different noise, like quick bursts of scooting as they brushed against the sides of the metal drain. In less than a minute, a small female finch dropped out of the drainage pipe onto the ground! 

 

She looked around and in a split-second took off for our closest tree and then stopped for a few minutes on the power line (see photo below), before flying to the tree across the street. We whooped for joy and I filled up the bird feeder in the front yard to celebrate. 

 

This precious finch appears to be completely fine. We saved her just in time! The weather forecast is calling for fierce thunderstorms. With no escape route, the rain would have driven her down the drainage pipe and into the drain system in the ground. I am amazed how this rescue happened just a few hours before all hope would have been lost.

 

The bird didn't know the storms were coming or she might’ve given up hope and let herself fall to the ground and stay there to silently await her fate. She might not have continued to attempt to climb to the top, which means I wouldn’t have heard her scratching again this morning. But she didn’t know what the future held, or could have held, so she kept up the fight to be heard and to save herself. Her perseverance saved her life and blessed us with an opportunity to make a difference. 

 

It’s a good thing we don’t know everything. The bird’s future was to be rescued, which we all know now. But five minutes before it happened, it sure didn’t look that way. She was instrumental in how everything worked out and was certainly determined not to give up. She wanted to be saved and did everything within her power to do so. 

 

What if this little finch had been privy to the coming storms and allowed that to discourage her? How often are we given a forecast that we let deter us or weaken our resolves—to dampen our spirits and change our course? Not only do we give in to the dire report, we cooperate with it!  We quit on ourselves and adjust our efforts to align with the bad report.

 

We can give up or we can be like the finch. She continued to hope when it looked hopeless and to fight and never stop fighting for what she wanted most until she had it, or until she died. Not continuing to fight was imminent death for her anyway. We may not physically die if we give up on ourselves but how alive are our spirits if we resign to stay stuck? We may as well keep going after what we really want.

 

The finch may have even known that our cats were just outside the drainage pipe waiting for her. We had to chase them off because they knew something was in there. I’m guessing the bird knew something was “out there.” And yet when the opportunity came and she could see daylight, she summoned all her courage to drop out of the drain, even if it meant facing additional obstacles before flying to freedom. What did she have to lose?

 

Whatever we’re walking through today, regardless of how dark the skies are or how bleak the forecast, we can’t ever give up. We must look for everything we can do and do it, all the while trusting and believing a way will be made that we cannot yet see. We can allow other people to help us in ways we may not have considered. Let’s trust and expect the impossible. I believe in you and I know you believe in me too. 

 

Photos below!

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