GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 7
GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 7 ~ ~ Song of Solomon 2:12 ~ ~ “The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come…..”
“How about dem hummers, eh?”
Many of us feed the beautiful little hummingbirds in our yards. They are one of God’s most artistic creatures, and there are many varieties. They are the smallest of the 10,000 species of birds. In fact, the “bee hummingbird” weighs less than a penny!
While other birds are living “airplanes” hummers are living helicoptors. They can fly equally as well frontward, backward, upside-down, zooming straight upward, or diving straight downward.
They also have a special fringed tongue, which is like a teeny tiny broom, used to sweep insects from the inside of the flowers they’re visiting. This is the tiny bird’s only way to get the extra nourishment of insects into its diet. It’s mostly used, though, to sweep the nectar from inside the flowers. They go completely around each flower over and over, at a rate of 20 times per second!!!
Everything about the hummers is hyper-fast, as I’m sure you’re well aware. They digest their food in 20 minutes, and 97% of the sugar turns to energy during that time. With all that activity they need lots of food, and they will easily eat at least ½ of their body weight in a day.
As you probably guessed, their heartrate is off the charts @ 1260 beats per minute, understandably, the fastest of any bird.
They take the trophy, too, in relation to their size at least, in migration. The Ruby Throated can fly 500 miles non-stop! This takes them more than 20 hours, as they fly across the Golf of Mexico every year. But they’re even kicked to the curb by their cousin the Rufus who travels 2700 miles from Mexico to Alaska! This is not only amazing in itself, but given that they need to eat every half hour or so, how do they do this? They take a very long rest before the flight, and can consume up to 10 times their body weight. This can allow them to almost double their body weight as stored fat. They will then use this stored energy on their long migratory flights when there’s no ready food supply available. They waste NO motion, making every movement profitable in the flight. I would think that they use the help of the wind too. God’s creation works together, and we can trust that these little sweeties aren’t flying without the help of their Loving Creator!!! Speaking of flying, their normal flight speed is 30 miles per hour. However, they can reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour when they’re escaping from predators or chasing insects.
In order to provide the required energy their muscle cells need every second, hummingbirds have lots of capillaries. These allow their tiny hearts to furiously pump blood around their blood vessels. In fact, hummingbirds are one of the most efficient users of energy from both fructose and sucrose compared to any other living being on the planet.
Hummingbirds have very large brains when compared to their body size. In fact, their brain makes up around 4.2% of their total body weight. Plus, they also have the largest heart in comparison to their body size. This fact is not that surprising, given how fast a hummingbird’s heart beats.
Another surprising thing, since they are surrounded with fragrance all day (or maybe because of that fact) is that they have no sense of smell! We can be sure that their Creator had a wise reason for making them this way. He, instead, gave them exceptional eyesight.
While they can perch on a flower or feeder for eating, their feet and legs are very weak. They cannot hop or walk on them, and can barely stand on them, preferring to hover if possible.
For all the crazy activity of the hummers, they know how to rest, too. In fact, if they simply slept at night like other birds, they would starve to death long before dawn. To protect them from this, the God of the Universe gave them the ability to go into a “torpid” condition at night, as they’re hanging, many times, upside down, on a tree branch. In this condition, which is much like a short hibernation, their high-speed metabolism almost shuts down completely. In fact, sometimes they will stop breathing for short times. While in the daytime, they have the the greatest energy output (gram for gram) of any warm blooded animal, at night, (or in cold weather or food shortages) they use only 1/5 of their normal energy, their heart rate drops from its daytime of 1260/minute, down to 50-250 beats per minute, and their daytime temperature of 105-108 F, drops to 41-50 F. But—talk about quick wakers, it isn’t long and they’re buzzing around as usual!…………even without coffee!!!!
Psalm 105:4-5 ~ ~ “Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore. Remember his marvelous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;”
Matthew 6:33 ~ ~ “But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Seek Him, and Him alone. For He is the ONLY WAY to salvation, and He will never turn anyone away. He promised that in John 6:37 when Jesus Himself said:
“All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.”
So, if you’re not born again, go to Jesus in prayer, and tell Him you want to repent of your sins, be forgiven, and live with Him forever!
Our wonderful God gives His True Ones strength, energy, and always the things we need in His wisdom, as we seek His face. ~ ~ Matthew 10:31~ ~ “Fear not therefore, you are of more than many sparrows.” (or hummingbirds)!!
Have a good day, and watch some amazing birds!
Live in the Light of Our Lord 