November 15, 2006 we made a discovery of national significance in our homeschool.

Or so we thought! Australia is a country where the Hummingbird is not known. On this day we observed what appeared to be a tiny bird, hovering and flying backwards. The children and I gathered and watched in awe and wonderment as this tiny creature whizzed past us and around our Happy plant, feeding from its flowers.

I wasn’t sure if I could trust my eyes when my daughter said “Mum, it flew backwards!” Excitement welled up inside of me, as I know there is only one bird that flies backwards! And I knew that it was the hummingbird. I explained to my children the significance of our sighting.

I had first seen a hummingbird in Tennessee and then later in Colarado, when we visited the USA several years ago. It was their spring at the time. And November is still spring here! I checked with internet sites and was pleased to find that drab hummingbirds do exist. So the colour was right.

I made phone calls to the national bird society, and then the department of wildlife. I called the local newspaper and they agreed to send their photographer.

Jesus said in Matthew 24:4, “Take heed that no man deceive you!”

Thanks to Fraser Coast Chronicle’s high resolution photograph taken from a 8 megapixel Nikon D2HS, we were able to actually see that our “hummingbird” had moth identifying features. Rather than being privy to an exclusive Australian Hummingbird sighting we had been watching a little known moth. The Bee Hawk moth has hummingbird-like characteristics and is now known as the hummingbird moth in this family. This taught us that we can not trust our own senses. We even had eyewitnesses who agreed with our conclusion, until they too saw the photographs!

Lessons from Nature

In the face of what may be tangible evidence or popular consensus, the only safety is in total reliance on God’s Word. Only by carefully examining its teaching and comparing with it, can we be saved from overwhelming deception. Our hummingbird moth became a perfect illustration of a deep and important Biblical truth.

Two thousand years ago, when Jesus walked on earth, He, the world’s greatest Teacher, used the seen to illustrate the unseen. This was His favourite method of teaching. He connected the everyday commonplace objects of life with eternal truths. The birds of the air, the lilies of the field, the sower and the seed, the shepherd and the sheep--with these Christ illustrated immortal truth. He drew illustrations also from the events of life, facts of experience familiar to the hearers--the leaven, the hid treasure, the pearl, the fishing net, the lost coin, the prodigal son, the houses on the rock and the sand. In His lessons there was something to interest every mind, to appeal to every heart. In this way the everyday duties were brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen.

This feature was also employed by Bible writers before Christ’s earthly advent. Under the inspiration of the holy Spirit, Old Testament prophets wrote of Israel as a vine. Amos was shown a basket of summer fruit for the purpose of illustration. And there are many more.

In our home educating, the same technique is available to us. Among homeschoolers ‘living books’ is a catch phrase and is used in reference to literature, but the real living book is nature. To read it right, phonics is not the key! To learn its lessons correctly we need to pray for the illumination of God’s Spirit. The existence of thorns and blight can only be understand in the light of the Genesis 3 story. This is one reason why God gave us His written word. Since the fall of man, nature is no longer a perfect revelation of God. Nature must be studied together with the Scriptures.