“Solomon, Come on,” called Pumpernickel, his wife from the outer tree branch, quite near to the Parrot family’s brand new nest.

“Okay, gather round birdies. Time for our daily word hunt,” her husband replied; sticking his head out of the large nest, at the edge of the deepest forest in all of the countryside.

“Our new home is right next to the valley. We can have our lessons in the city and mimic those lessons at home. The forest is deep enough for our growing colony, so we should be able to stay here for a long time. Go out into the city and come back with lessons that we can use to help ourselves and other birds in the colony. Come Huey, come Pinky, come Niles, Prince and Stodgy. It’s time for your first journey into a bright new city!”

Four of them quickly flew to meet their parents on the outer tree branch and stared lovingly into their father’s eyes.

“Where’s Stodgy?” he asked.

“Stodgy? still sleeping,” replied Niles and Prince together.

“Oh man……okay, you four go by yourselves,” their father ordered. “I’ll take care of Stodgy later.”

So the four obeyed and were all back in no time and waited on the branch for their father’s arrival. Meanwhile, Huey and Pinky gathered their notes; whispering to one another.

“What lessons have you learned Huey, Pinky? You two stuck together this trip.” Their father asked, even though he was sure he already knew the words that they would report.

“We heard words like hot dogs, ketchup, mustard, and rolls,” replied Huey.

“People also said, lovely sky, sunrise, beautiful lake and good times,” added Pinky.

“Ok, those first words you mimicked are not for us, but those last ones I like,” Solomon muttered; too quietly for his birdies to hear.

“Huey and Pinky, your colors of yellow and pink are brightened by sharing your lessons! Congratulations,” their father replied. “And those first words you said are names of foods people eat at picnics, but what were the people doing when they said lovely sky, sunrise, beautiful lake and good times?” he inquired.

“Smiling at nature,” they replied together.

“Ahhhhhh……interesting. And did you two learn any lessons this morning? He asked; turning to Prince and Niles, even though he was sure he already knew the words they would report.

“Yes Father. Car, engine, drive, and broken,” they replied together.

“And what were the people doing when the people were saying car, engine, drive and broken?” their father inquired.

“Sitting on road. One under car’s hood….I think.”

“Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” Solomon replied.

“Good job birdies! Prince and Niles, your colors of purple and aqua are brighter from sharing the lessons you learned! Congratulations! Tell Stodgy to come when he awakens,” Solomon commanded, as he flew away to hunt in the valley for something for the family dinner, while Stodgy continued to sleep.

The next day when the parrot parents ventured outside their nest for the family meeting, Stodgy was the first one to show up. He walked slowly up to his father, rather than flying and kept his head down and did not even walk straight.

“I’m not feeling very well father” he moaned.

“What is it now!?” Solomon exclaimed.

“I’m too tired each and every morning to make the meetings father. Like last night, I was up all night long, with terrible insomnia, a really killer headache and then later, I even got the worst stomach ache of my life! I don’t know if I’ll ever feel good enough to go on the word hunts anymore. I’m seriously ill……uh… The others keep me up at night with all their talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and more talk, talk, talk…..”

“Stodgy, your gray color is getting more and more dull. You are the one that talks the most, but says the least,” Solomon remarked sternly. “Your brothers care about learning and growing and doing what’s right and listening to their parents and they care that I am gathering information for my next family book, but you only seem to listen to yourself and you are happy to learn nothing, no lessons at all, just repeated, empty talk, talk, talk, talk talk….” He replied, as he turned and flew with Pumpernickel deeper into the colony.

“My brothers are just jealous because I’m the best talker of the whole family, even including Father. They know I can talk forever and know a lot more words than they do and that drives them crazy,” Stodgy said out loud, even though his brothers had gone back into the nest and there was no one there to hear him. He continued to go on and on, until suddenly his brothers showed up next to him on the outer tree branch and heard his loud complaining.

“What?” We are NOT!” They all shouted together. “Jealous of your disinterest and laziness? NEVER!”

“Disinterest! Big word! NOT! And don’t you see that father is sending us out to listen to people talk and that’s eavesdropping?”

“NO, it’s lessons, not bad intentions. Listening is how we learn. By listening to others talk….. We MIMIC," the others replied loudly; recalling their father’s teachings.

Solomon and Pumpernickel heard their birdies arguing, as they approached and flew quickly to where they were gathered on the outer tree branch.

“Cease immediately!” Solomon and Pumpernickel shouted together. We heard you all fighting, and it must cease now!” Their mother exclaimed, while Solomon just stood there shaking his head.

“Time for another meeting. This time about your squabbling. I didn’t teach you birds to talk so that you could fuss and fight, but so that we could improve our vocabularies and so that I would have material for the family books. Now what is the problem?”

“The people and some birds in the colony think Stodgy is so smart because of his many words,” they all exclaimed together. “And so the people shouted for Stodgy and told us four to go home!”

“So the people think Stodgy is smarter because of his talk, talk, talk and more talk huh? Let me explain to you birdies once and for all, we listen to others so we can talk to one another and live fuller lives, but showing is much better for understanding than mere talk. What people say is not always what they do……They don’t always tell the truth, but  actions reveal truth.

This is true in life as well as storybooks. Stodgy, your brothers show their love for me by coming quickly when me or mother call and obey my commands, which helps us all learn lessons and for me to write good books.”

After their father’s speech, which became famous among all the birds in the colony, four of the five birds stared at each other in awe, as their colors deepened so much that their feathers shone even in the dark night sky!

And at the sight of his four brothers, Stodgy covered his eyes and tried to fly away, but he flew straight into a tree instead! His brothers came flying over and gently pushed back the branches; freeing Stodgy, from not only the branches, but also from himself.

And their father saw it and he said: “Now that you birdies are beginning to learn lessons, perhaps you need to get some rest. Bedtime for one and all!”

The next morning when Huey, Pinky, Prince, Niles and Stodgy, went into the city and were shocked at what they learned and couldn’t wait to report the news to their father.

“Father, the most amazing thing happened,” Huey exclaimed.

“Well, I can already tell it must have been amazing with your vocabulary and speech so much improved! What happened? He asked curiously.

“Well, we all stayed together, and we all heard a lot of people arguing; accusing one another of lying. After we heard that, we flew to another spot where people were gathered around one of those cars…. I think, and someone was lying on the ground. People were crying and even screaming for help. And I think we even saw a couple of angels! Then, when help arrived, everyone was happy and relieved, and they all climbed into a big truck with sirens on it and drove off.

After that, we all flew to another spot where we were able to peer inside a window and we saw a woman gazing into a man’s eyes and their eyes were wet with joy. And there were many other people around all staring at them and smiling and some crying. Then, we peered into another window and saw a baby’s birth and there was great rejoicing and many tears of joy. But the most amazing thing of all was people working together; preparing food for the hungry. We were all sure by that sight what it is you were trying to teach us. If those people had merely used words, like “have a nice day,” that could not help them that hunger.”

“Great! The people staring into each other’s eyes were probably getting married and you also saw a car accident and the people were showing that they cared greatly. I’m so glad you have ALL finally learned the lesson of love that I wanted you to see with your eyes; especially that last one!"

“Love has conquered all as far as our family is concerned,” remarked Pumpernickel, after their birdies had gone to sleep that remarkable evening.

“Yes and now we are all ready to go out into the colony and spread good cheer!” remarked Solomon.

“And it’s all due to our little game of show and tell,” replied his wife.

“Yeah, showing love, not showing off!” Solomon replied. “Hey, maybe we should try to come up with another name for Stodgy!”

“Ha ha ha ha,” exclaimed Pumpernickel, until Solomon couldn’t help but laugh too, and their laughter got so loud it awakened their birdies from sleep. They perked up their ears to listen, until Stodgy declared “Hey quit eavesdropping,” with a big smile. And all five laughed for so long; it took them all night to fall back to sleep.

Lesson based in the spiritual principle found in James 2:14-26

“What goo is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James:14-17, nkjv)