My sunroom is attracting wildlife.

I have been searching for a picture that I took a few months ago, but I cannot find it. It was of the image a bird left on the door in our sunroom when he CRASHED into it. The image was left by the dirt/dust that came off of his body, you could see his entire outline; wingspan, neck, head, beak... all of it, even the details of the separate feathers, the bird was in flight when it hit. If I didn't know that the bird probably died b/c of the crash, I would have thought it was cool. Since then we've had more visitors to our sunroom. About 2 weeks ago, I heard this horrific bang noise and subsequent noises afterward. I went into the sunroom and found this beautiful lady.




A female cardinal.
From what I've heard, cardinals mate for life, so I'm sure her man was somewhere nearby anxious for her to get out of there! I managed to help her along her way, but not before she made some attempts on her own. Poor thing. I hated hearing and seeing her bang into the windows.

Then, Wednesday, I heard it again. BANG! So, I went to see who and where, and found this poor thing.




Sadly, this one didn't survive. I tried to protect her. I gave her some time to recoup (or so I thought) then went to encourage her to get out of our yard b/c we have two hound-type dogs, she let me get REALLY close, I had to nudge her tail feathers with my foot before she flew a few feet away, so I tried again and this time she flew behind some bushes up against the house. She died there. It's so sad.
I hate to see the negatives of nature. I just want to enjoy its beauty. Lions are magnificent animals; but I hate to see them when they are catching their prey. I know they need to eat, but I don't want to see them terrorizing a herd of Zebra's to do it.
I guess it's like that for all things really. I want to become more financially responsible, yet I don't want to deny myself any pleasures. I want to grow in my relationship with God, yet I don't want to take any time of 'my time' away in order to spend more time with Him. I've had this book for a while now, 'Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World', referring to the story in the Bible when Jesus is at Mary and Martha's house speaking to a group of people, Mary is at his feet listening, yet Martha is in the house cleaning, cooking, getting things ready for everyone, being the "Martha Stewart" of her day. In the story, she goes up to Jesus, stamps her foot and whines about it, (I'm paraphrasing here) she wants to know how come Mary isn't helping her, look at all the stuff she's had to do for everyone else, she wants Jesus to make Mary go and help her! Jesus tells her to chill, He says to her, Martha, you are worried about too much of the not as important 'stuff' and Mary has chosen the one thing that is needed, she's into the good stuff, the stuff that will remain with her forever. Martha's concerns were limited to the here and now (the cooking and cleaning), whereas Mary was concerned with the things that are eternal (her soul).
It seems we all can get caught up in the the 'Martha' things; family, kids, the house, work, church, etc) and not get caught up with the 'Mary' things; our Bible study, prayer time, and God. I am currently a Martha, who wants to be a Mary. I just have to find the right balance.





(hmm, I don't usually get all preachy/spiritual on here... I wonder where that came from.)