 Patricia Parrot was busy building her nest. Her last
nest had been in a tall tree, but when the man with the chain saw came and lopped the big
tree, her nest was smashed to pieces. Patricia was very upset and determined that she
would never build a nest up high again and that she would CERTAINLY NOT spend so much time
building it!
So this time, she chose a low hanging branch of a wattle  tree, down
near the stream. Such a pretty place, with a water view and all those lovely golden
flowers in springtime! Yes, this would be the best nest she had ever had!
Pamela parrot was also nest-building. This was to be Pamela's FIRST nest and she had
learnt two very important pieces of advice from her mother.
Mother parrot had said, "You must always choose a safe, strong place fro your nest,
and you should always take time and build it carefully.....no short cuts!"
 So Pamela had chosen a really strong branch of a Turpentine tree...it was
quite protected from the wind; she worked slowly and thoroughly, weaving each piece of
grass in and out, in and out. Her nest was secured strongly to the branch with some thin
twisted wire  that she found on the ground...yes, it was firmly built and would
last well.
Patricia saw Pamela swooping down to pick up some more twigs in her beak. "Goodness,
you're a slow coach," Patricia said, "I've finished MY nest! Come and see!"
So Pamela Parrot put her twigs down and flew onto the fragile wattle branch hanging over
the stream. The flimsy nest rocked to and fro as the two birds landed on the branch.
"O, my," Pamela said, "This doesn't feel very safe, Patricia."
"Nonsense," the other parrot replied, "I like to be rocked to sleep."
A few days later, when Pamela had just finished building her nest, she heard Peter Parrot
and Patricia trilling a sweet song and sure enough, there in Patricia's nest were three
new eggs! 
"Mmm," thought Pamela,
"I just hope her babies will like to 'rock 'n roll' on that scrappy branch!"
That night a storm arose... the wind howled and the rain poured down. Pamela sat deep in her snug little
nest, with her head tucked under her wing. Her nest stayed firm and safe through that
long, wild night. When she awoke at the sunrise  , Pamela saw broken trees and branches
everywhere...such a lot of damage. She fluttered down from her tree to find Patricia
sitting sadly on a rock  beside the swollen stream ...her wing twisted and hung limply by her side.
"O dear," cried Pamela, "whatever happened?"
Patricia sighed, "It's all my fault, I should have built in a safer place and I
should have built my nest more strongly. You see, the branch broke in the storm last night
and my nest fell to pieces in the stream below...my eggs were smashed and my wing hurt and
oh, how foolish I've been." "Well," said Pamela kindly, "I'm sure
you've learnt an important lesson, Patricia. BE WISE AND BUILD WELL!
Jesus told a story just like
this... about two men. One built his house on the sand, the other on the rock. When a wild
storm came, which house was safe and which house was damaged?
Jesus wants us to "build our lives around Him"...then we'll be able to stand
up and be strong when difficult times come along. |