Posted by When I went to Scotland my bird-watcher brother told me to be on the lookout for a European robin – that they were a lot cooler than the American robin and really had no relationship to the robins most of us see in our yards. Actually the European robin is the original. America just copied the name. Interestingly, when I put “robin” in the search engine of my blog’s media for a picture – most of the pictures were of the European robin – not the one we’re familiar with.
I did see a robin in Scotland – just a little bigger than a chickadee, he was cute and cuddly-looking. He did have a red breast which is why the American robin was also called a robin – because he too has a red breast. We just copied the Europeans.
The European robin is a type of flycatcher. The American robin is a thrush.
Jeremiah 8:7 talks about the thrush. (The word is used in many translations, but not all.)
Even the stork in the sky
knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know
the requirements of the Lord. (NIV)
Jeremiah talks about the birds knowing their appointed seasons and the times of their migration, but people don’t follow the guidance of the Lord.
Think about that the next time you see a robin (the American thrush kind) arriving in the spring or disappearing in the fall – it knows its time and seasons.
Show your kids Jeremiah 8:7 and compare the obedience of the birds to our own obedience.
