The winter months provide a tremendous opportunity for Mary to do, what Mary loves to do… that is feed the birds. Suet and seed provide wonderful entertainment for us and for visiting grandchildren. Birds, both small and large make their way to the feeding spots, including a feeder that is suction cupped to our sliding glass door. It’s a front row seat to nature!
And this week, they have seemed especially engaged, active and entertaining. That’s right. This week.
A week when the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped over 3,000 points. That’s over 10%. A week when world chaos over a virus and stocks tumbling over supply chain disruption created incredible uncertainty and fear.
How could they? These birds. Content. In song. Flying in and out at will for the next morsel.
These winged creatures resisting the urge to hit refresh on their Wall Street app. They neither fretted, nor checked the value of their IRA. They neither worried nor stockpiled.
They have a promise to live into. A Heavenly Father who said He would take care of them.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. (Matthew 6:26a, ESV)
They are neither lazy nor entitled. In fact, they are the opposite. Faithful, diligent, hard working… but unphased by the sudden dip in the market. Unflustered by the predictions ahead.
They have a Heavenly Father. Who feeds them. Day after day. In time. On time. Through time.
And this Father. The one who cares for the birds, loves and values us more. Yes, us. Yes, more.
And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? (Matthew 6:26b, NLT)
YES! More valuable than the birds He feeds at our feeder. Yes, more loved than the sum total of all the birds on the planet.
Yet we worry. Yet I worry.
The illusion of control creeps relentlessly into my mind. Did the coronavirus and the market plunge arrest my control? No. It simply pulled the mask off the image of self-reliance. The Emperor has no clothes.
Yet, we are not abandoned, ignored or overlooked. We are more valuable. More precious.
Looked after. Provided for. Not with the hope that the Bulls will run again on Wall Street, but with the confident assurance that our provision, identity and future are assured in what matters most. The love of God. The grace of God. The hope of God. The holiness of God. The compassion of God. The justice of God. The very character of God…
In Jesus. Through Jesus.
“Look at the birds of the air…”
Just look.
Rest assured.
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Well said. When you put things into a heavenly perspective it changes everything. 6+ billon people in the world and 60,000 people have this flu like virus. My son who works for UNICEF in Kenya just reminded me that 15,000 children die everyday from preventable causes, but that fact never makes the news media or Wall Street. Zephaniah 3:17