Teddy’s Special Bird
By Julia A. Keirns
(published in Our Little Friend on November 8, 1997)
Teddy woke up and heard a beautiful song coming from outside his bedroom window. He sat up in bed to listen, but the bird suddenly stopped singing and flew away. Teddy forgot all about it and went to eat breakfast and go about his day.
The next morning, Teddy woke up and heard a beautiful song coming from outside his bedroom window. He sat up in bed to listen, but the bird suddenly stopped singing and flew away. Teddy wondered what kind of special bird could sing such a beautiful song, and then he went outside to play.
The third morning, Teddy woke up and heard a beautiful song coming from outside his bedroom window. He lay very still and listened. The bird sang for a long time. Teddy wanted to see the bird who sang so beautifully, but when he tried to sit up in bed, the bird suddenly stopped singing and flew away.
“How can I see the bird,” he said, “when every time I sit up in bed, it flies away?” He thought and he thought until he finally thought of an idea. He moved his bed under the window. “Now I won’t have to sit up in bed to see the bird,” he said. Teddy went outside to play, and whistled the bird’s beautiful song all day.
The next morning when Teddy woke up and heard the beautiful song coming from outside his bedroom window, he did not see the bird. The window was too high and the bed was too low. Teddy quietly tried to sit up in bed, but the bird suddenly stopped singing and flew away. Teddy did not go outside to play.
“What’s the matter, Teddy?” his mother asked when she saw how sad he was. Teddy told her about the special bird who sang so beautifully outside his bedroom window. He told her how every time he sat up in bed it flew away. He told her how much he wanted to see the bird that sang so beautifully.
Teddy’s mother thought and she thought until she finally thought of an idea. She told Teddy he could use the camcorder to record the bird singing his beautiful song. So they set the camera facing the window. His mother showed him how to use the remote control to turn it on. That way he wouldn’t have to sit up in bed, and he wouldn’t scare the bird away. Teddy felt a lot better and went outside to play.
The next morning when Teddy woke up and heard the beautiful song coming from the bird outside his bedroom window, he clicked on the camera with the remote control. He stayed very still. The bird sang for a long time and the camera recorded it all. When the bird finally stopped singing and flew away, Teddy clicked off the camera and took it to his mother. She showed him how to rewind it and then they watched what Teddy had recorded.
As he watched the bird sing its beautiful song, it sounded special, but it didn’t look special. It looked like just an ordinary bird that he could see every day in his backyard.
“But it is special,” his mother told him, “to find beauty in one of God’s creations. All things are special in their own way, and you discovered a bird with a beautiful song.”
Teddy thought about his mother’s words as he went outside to play. He sat on the swing and heard bird chirps and twitters. He had never noticed all the bird chirps and twitters before. Then he heard his beautiful song. He looked up and saw his special bird singing its beautiful song right in his own backyard.
“Thank you God,” Teddy whispered, “for helping me find out which one of your special birds was singing to me every morning.”