“Just ask the animals, and they will teach you.
Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
8 Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you.
Let the fish in the sea speak to you….
For ..the life of every living thing is in his hand,
Job 12:8-10 NIV

I have no doubt God loves His creation, just as he loves us, and my premise for the Tales from a Lake series, is that the birds and animals also recognise and know their Creator. A stretch perhaps, but who knows?

There is an order God has set in His creatures on this earth (including man). We are born to parents who raise us, we learn to fend for ourselves and survive, we live for a purpose even to succeed and flourish. We remain a part of a family (regardless of who our family members are!) and we mostly start a family of our own (no disrespect to those who choose not to). And so the pattern continues until our time on earth is done.

Magpies fascinate me as they are very diligent in the raising of their offspring. They are the one native bird that feels at completely at home around humans. They wander our gardens as though they own them. On the Quiet Side of the Great Lake they are so friendly that you can walk right up to them and they won’t fly away. (I guess they know us and trust us, just like in real life!) So when they have new babies we become very aware. Initially it is the cries of the chicks in the nest, followed by the parents teaching their fledglings to find their food and survive on their own.

Mostly they get it. But there was one little magpie who caught my attention. It seemed to take weeks and weeks. He constantly chased after his mother squawking to be fed. It became entertainment to us as we watched his antics. I had to ask myself, ‘what was wrong with Junior Magpie’, that he couldn’t seem to find his own food. I sifted through the ‘what-ifs?’, and then an anecdote from a friend brought it all together and The Tale of Junior Magpie was born.

To make the story more impacting I created Junior to be the son of Matthew Magpie, the central character of the Tales from a Lake series, who was appointed by the Great Creator, Himself to keep order on the Quiet Side among the bird life. The Quiet Side had become a place of peace and love where bird life, human folk and four legged friends all “looked out for each other”. It was a place of healing where hurting creatures came to mend and recover.

However, to Matthew and his life-partner Iris who saw themselves as role models and mentors to many of the others of their breed, it became a dilemma. But of course all is well that ends well. The book is on sale online in the Amazon Kindle store for $1.99 US and $2.68 AU.

I’d love to hear of your magpie experiences, good or bad.

Leave me a message!