Today's "Lent Encouragement" is from David, writing about God's wonderful creation.

"We all love to attract birds whether it's with children at a pond or by setting up feeding stations in our gardens and we delight to see a new variety especially if it's colourful. I like to use up scraps of wood to build bird boxes for smaller birds and by changing the design attract different ones. We now have some nesting boxes in our church tower to attract swifts and other boxes in our churchyard. It does not always go well as they can be attacked by cats, squirrels and larger birds and it is upsetting when they don't survive to leave the nest. The dedication of the parent birds is very impressive and even if disturbed or only one parent survives they will still go about feeding their young.
The psalmist talks of God having us under His protective wing and Jesus, as he laments over Jerusalem, likens himself to a mother hen wanting to gather her chicks in order to protect them. Birds in general and sparrows in particular are used to illustrate God's ongoing care. We too are called to protect that which is vulnerable especially if it reflects God's love and care for us."

The photograph shows one of the nesting boxes that David has made.