Feeding the Birds: A Short Story by Gary Flory

 

In the Spring of '63, I was sitting on the porch in the swing drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee. My neighbor, John, was across the road working up a patch to plant his garden. We had been neighbors for over twenty years and I always admired the man. My job didn’t require me to be at work until 9 am, so spending a half hour in the swing in the morning allowed me to organize my thoughts. Many times I would see John and his dog heading to the barn to feed his few head of cattle. The chickens usually followed close behind waiting their turn.

John had lost his wife a few years back. He said her heart was just worn out. His dog Jake, kinda took her place in keeping him going. As he was hoeing up the weeds, I noticed he stopped, and just leaned on his hoe, like he was thinking about something. I decided I better go over and check to see if he was ok. I put some ice in a glass and filled it with water and went across the road. By then, he was sitting on the ground, next to his garden.

“Hi John, thought you could use a cold drink.”

“I believe I’ll take you up on that. Thanks.”

“Are you feeling ok?”

He looked down but didn’t say anything right away. Then he looked up and said, “I’m tired.”

“Well just sit here awhile and rest.”

Then he looked down again and said, “No, that’s not what I meant. I’m tired of living.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I said, “What are you, 82-83?”

He said, “I’ll be 84 next month. Most of my friends are already gone.”

I sent up a quick prayer to God, asking, how do I respond to that? I watched as Jake came over and laid on John’s lap. “Jake would be very sad to lose his best friend.”

John nodded, “I guess he would.”

“If God asked you to feed the birds, would you do it?”

John looked at me with a puzzled look. “I guess I would,” he replied. “Why did you ask me that?”

“John, I’ve watched you over the years do everything that needed to be done to keep your farm going. Plowing, planting, and bringing in the crops. Many times I saw you give a bag of vegetables to different families after church. When you would butcher, you would make sure the widow down the road would get some hamburger. You see John, you have been feeding the birds for years.”

John was still looking down, but I could see a smile on his face. Then I reached over and took the hoe out of his hand. “I got a few minutes, I’ll give you a hand. Those weeds aren’t going to pull themselves.”

John patted Jake on the head and said, “Come on Jake, we got some birds to feed.”

Isaiah 40:31 - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.