The random thoughts of a Christian parrot
Parrots are just as important as people, so why shouldn’t there be parrot obituaries?
Before he acquired me, my owner was reading a parrot magazine when he spotted a parrot obituary near the back. “How bizarre!” he thought. Wasn’t this taking things a little too far?
Of course, I have now put him right on this point. The obituary in question described how “Percy” used to join his owner in bed for a morning cup of tea, and then slide down the staircase bannister when she headed downstairs. Percy’s party-piece was to strut up and down on the breakfast table with a teaspoon in his beak. And he would show his owner great love and affection by nuzzling into her neck and gently preening her hair. The two of them were inseparable. They’d been together for nearly 40 years, so the sudden passing of Percy was one very major bereavement.
You see, parrots, like most humans, yearn for a life-long companion. Someone they can love and trust and with whom they can live out their lives. Acquiring a parrot is a bit like getting married. And the pain of a bereavement can be a really terrible thing for both parties. Probably as bad as it gets.
And so we have to ask the question whether people and parrots will ever be reunited with one another in heaven? Does the Bible say anything about this? Well indirectly, it does. And it’s good news. Romans, chapter 8, verses 19-21 tells us that “…….creation itself will one day be set free from its slavery to decay and will share the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
Would a loving creator really allow the people and creatures of His creation to simply shrivel up and turn to dust when they die? Of course not. Humans like to believe that they’re above all other creatures, but the truth is that all living things form a part of the same creation. So these Bible verses give all of us, -parrots, people, elephants, Labradors, ponies, penguins and whatever else, -we are all given a message of real HOPE. It doesn’t simply depend upon our level of intelligence. It’s who we are, and what we are like inside that counts. So I, for one, believe that Percy and the lady of his life, will one day be reunited!