The bullied bird

July 1, 2010 | 10 comments

My wife and I were walking through Howard Amon Park, which is in Richland, on the shore of the beautiful Columbia River. We came across an immobilized seagull squatting on the asphalt with one leg cocked out to the side at a very abnormal angle.

We got very close, and the gull apparently couldn’t move because it didn’t. The leg looked broken. He, or she, I have no idea which, sat there looking up at us utterly helpless.

My heart went out to this stranded one. I started to pray for his recovery.

Some children ran by and stopped to tell us that a mean boy had chased down and beaten the seagull with a stick a few minutes ago. Then my heart really went out to this totally innocent creature.

I sent love in the direction of the boy that had struck the bird and also knew God never created a bully that could hurt or harm a fellow creature. What I had just heard materially was not real spiritually, I declared, and evidence of the lie could be reversed with spiritual truth.

I slammed the suggestion of “This gull is doomed to die,” out of my mind. I saw God empowering this bird to be all it was designed to be without injury to impede, halt or hold him back.

Another group of curious children approached us, and became fascinated with the gull sitting on the ground.

A small girl wanted to hold the bird. She stepped close reaching down to pick it up. To everyone’s surprise, the gull suddenly pulled his crooked leg underneath, stood up and flew off. I looked down the bank a few hundred feet, and there he was standing tall and square on both legs.
I decided all was well, and we continued our walk that evening glad to see a happy resolution.

10 thoughts on “The bullied bird”

  1. I love that in studying Christian Science, we often “happen upon” what we need. I had just been made aware of a bullying problem within my family and had started to pray about it last night. Thank you for your post this morning!

  2. Thank you Evan! What a wonderful demonstration. It brought to mind Mrs. Eddy’s statement “Divine Love has always met, and will always meet, every human need.” I guess in this case it is every aviary need! He meets the needs of all his creatures, big and small. I love it!

  3. What a beautiful demonstration of God’s pure Love in action. I cried when I read about the gull being healed by your reflection of God’s tenderness and compassion. I am grateful for this inspiring website. Thank you.

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  4. I agree with correcting the kid with a stick – and from a practical standpoint, the bird can live quite nicely with even a broken leg.

  5. What a beautiful healing. It is imperative to hold each idea in the realm of love incapable of being bullied or of being a bully. Love corrects and governs man and creatures at all times. Thank you for the inspiration.

  6. WOW..that was wonderful….

    I myself was bullied in a psychological way in junior high…that made me fear physical abuse for about a year and a half

    …had a couple of incidents of attempted physical attacks

    ….then one night I decided to ask my Dad for help in the matter….and he said well lets look at the tenents of Christian Science, and the 3rd one stood out to me:

    3. We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.

    http://www.spirituality.com/dt/book_lookup.jhtml?reference=SH+497:9#jumpto

    the last line STOOD OUT to me,
    “..the beliefe in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts…”

    This made me realize that I thought that i was doing something wrong, that deserved the negative attention of this group of other boys…who were know in the area to be annoying at times.

    Anywho….its like that statement, removed my fear….and long story short..the next day….when i was doing my paper route on my bike,i meet the same group walking up the hill at the same place that they tried to surround me and start to beat me the day before[the day before they were stopped by a courageous man, on the street who stopped them]…but on this day…i felt well mostly no fear…and well..we just passed each other….
    and after that day…i wasnt afraid of them….
    and didnt have to worry about which way to go to school or do my paper route each day to avoid a confrontation….
    ..it was a wonderful healing….

    anywho…when i read that Evan, immediately put Love towards the boy who apparently attacked the seagul…that is definitely an extremely enlightened way to approach that situation…and probably the most effective….its too easy to hate[feel ill will towards the “bad boy”], but no we must know that IS NOT THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM…..

    i am teaching english in Japan again, and this problem of bullying is a problem that needs to be solved…its called IJIME in japan, and students have killed themselves when faced with this…..boards of education try to allieviate it….some provinces even have posters with toll free numbers to call for help…..but the problem persists for some reason…..why is this a seeming part of school life?

    one of the shooting sprees at an american school was due to a boy considered overweight who was bullied….

    we all need to pray about this…in a general sense…..for all students…for all…creatures in the whole world. counteract the ideas of helplessness…the urge to commit the act…the false sense of power over another….the brotherhood or sisterhood of humankind….spiritkind…should be maintained in thought…

    ok.enough said.
    bye for now

  7. Great job, Evan !!!!!! God did the work, and you did your part wonderfully !!!!!!

    Have a marvelous day !!!!!

    Gracia

  8. I love that you didn’t panic or expect this to take a long time. I probably would have frantically tried to call a wildlife center, while throwing in some uncertain, but hopeful, prayer. I love that you work from the absolute and expect nothing less than God’s Truth to be made manifest.

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