“Our search for the perfectest bird in all of creation brings us to the Cliffs of Moher,” Andy said in a terrible British accent. “For it is here we find young Muffin.”

“Muffin, the Perfect Puffin,” Eva said.

“Good one!” Andy’s accent switched to Scottish. “Moofin, the Perfect Poofin.”

The Wanders had traveled all the way to Ireland so Mom could shoot footage for an upcoming nature documentary. After Mom caught a few shots on Giant’s Causeway and a Galway sheep farm, the family wandered to Ireland’s western coast, where the steep Cliffs of Moher towered above the Atlantic Ocean.

A narrator hadn’t been hired for the project yet, and Andy hoped that he might have a shot at the job if he could wow everyone with his commentary.

Andy and Eva gathered around a video monitor while Mom pulled up a live feed from a camera she’d hidden inside the underground puffin burrow. Eva squealed when Muffin, the fluffy three-day-old puffling, stood and stretched her wings. Muffin’s dad, whom the kids had named Huffin Puffin because he always seemed to work so hard, nuzzled his little puffling before climbing out of the burrow.

“He’s going fishing!” Eva said.

The Wanders sprang into action. Dad hurried to the van to grab Mom’s long-range lens, while the kids pulled out their binoculars.

“The brave puffin dives into a raging sea to find fishies for his young,” Andy narrated.

“That’s where he went underwater.” Eva pointed to help Mom train her camera on the right spot.

The Wanders all held their breath until Huffin re-emerged with three small fish in his beak.

“Wahoo!” Eva clapped her hands.

“And the master fisher returns home with breakfast,” Andy said.

Mom tracked the bird’s flight with her camera. Huffin landed on the steep cliff and waddled toward his burrow.

“Nothing will stand in the way of a father’s love for his puffling.” Andy’s voice rose dramatically. “Not crashing waves or frigid seas or—ahhhh!”

A seagull had swooped in and stolen the fish from Huffin’s beak.

“Give that back!” Eva shouted at the gull.

“Did you see what just happened!” Andy shook Dad’s arm. “We’ve got to do something!”

“Mom’s here to document only,” Dad said. “We’re not supposed to interfere.

“But—” Eva said.

“Just watch,” Mom said, still recording the scene.

The kids watched the seagulls camp in front of the burrow while Huffin flew back out to sea.

“They’re waiting to do it again.” Andy’s narrator accent was long gone.

“Find your own fish!” Eva waved at the birds. “Leave Huffin alone!”

The gulls appeared unbothered by the yelling. They watched Huffin, anticipating their next food delivery.

Eva threw her hands up. “This isn’t fair. Seagulls shouldn’t be allowed up here.”

Andy turned to Dad. “Does the president know about this?”

“Does the president of Ireland know that seagulls are on the Cliffs of Moher?” Dad tried not to smile. “Um, yeah, probably.”

“And he’s okay with that!” Eva couldn’t believe it.

“I haven’t asked him personally,” Dad said.

“He’s definitely okay with it.” Andy crossed his arms angrily. “Otherwise, he’d send the police.”

“That’s what they need here.” Eva nodded. “Seagull police.”

“Huffin’s underwater now,” Mom said calmly. “Watch.”

“This is an inrage!” Andy said, so furious that he forgot the word outrage.

“Just watch,” Mom said again.

“It’s like we’re the only ones who care about Muffin.” Eva pouted.

Just then, another puffin emerged from the burrow. It was Muffin’s mom, whom the kids had named Lovin Puffin. She squawked at the seagulls.

“Get ‘em!” Andy whooped.

The much bigger gulls cawed and spread their wings. Lovin flew away.

“No!” both kids screamed.

More seagulls strolled among the puffin burrows. All hope seemed lost.

“Dad, please,” Eva said. “We can take Muffin home. We’ll feed her all the fish she wants. We’ll—”

Squawk!

Eva’s plea was cut short by a commotion overhead. She looked up to see hundreds of puffins all flying in a circle.

“A puffin wheel!” Mom whispered in awe. She turned her camera upward.

“Whaaaa . . . ?” Andy followed Eva’s gaze to the circling puffins above.

The commotion got the attention of the gulls, too. They noticed that some of the circling puffins had fish in their beaks. That was all it took to convince the greedy gulls to abandon their post and fly into the fray.

The Wanders were so entranced by the chaos in the sky that they missed one of the puffins peeling off from the group and landing on the cliff next to Muffin’s burrow.

Eva gasped. “It’s Huffin!”

Everyone else looked just in time to see Huffin waddle into the burrow. They ran to look through Mom’s video monitor and watched him feed Muffin one, two, three little fish.

“Awwwwww!” Eva watched Muffin eat as Lovin rejoined the family.

Dad wrapped his arm around Eva. “Earlier, you wondered if you were the only ones who care about Muffin. You know that’s not true, right?”

“Sorry, Dad. I know you guys care about her, too.”

“Not just us.”

Eva looked at Dad.

“The Bible says that God feeds the birds. He’s the one who gave puffins the instinct to dig burrows in cliffs and form puffin wheels. Before you saw Muffin, God knew her. And he provided a way for her parents to feed her.”

“I guess I didn’t think about that.”

“I never thought about those verses much either before becoming a parent,” Dad said.

“Why’s that?” Andy asked, wandering a little too close to the cliff’s edge.

Dad cringed and reached out to pull him back by his shirt. “Let’s just say I have a lot more reasons to worry now. I’m always reminding myself that no matter how much I love you, your Heavenly Father loves you more.”

“Hmm.” Andy took a moment to think about that before switching back to his awful narrating accent, this time with an Irish lilt. “That leaves us with the final question. What can stand in the way of a father’s love?”

On the video monitor, Lovin and Huffin Puffin were nuzzling Muffin. Eva smiled and answered, “Nuffin.”

What’s the Point?

In Matthew 6, Jesus reminds us that if God cares for the birds of the air, he’ll certainly care for us. That doesn’t mean that bad things will never happen. But it does mean that we can let go of our worry because we have a Heavenly Father who loves us more than we could ever know.