Simple Lesson

A friend of mine not so far from me sent me this picture of a scene on one of her walks. For a while I had this picture but somehow never looked close enough to see the details. Right there in midst of a watery backdrop are a few birds. They seem quite at peace eating – with the water lilies keep their company. They seem to be living in perfect harmony. My mind reflected on a scripture that referred to them.

 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life. And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

Matthew 6: 26-29

We are the only part of creation that seem to worry so much. I continually reflect on how much I have been able to achieve by worrying. I found – not much. It certainly consumes my time and robs me of valuable meaningful moments – wasted energy. It saps my creativity and blinds my vision. My ear gets clogged and discouragement becomes my companion. Eventually it manifests in my physical being – headaches, sleeplessness, digestive problems and body pains. So, why do we worry? I don’t think there’s one perfect answer. We often do it without even being conscious of it. I can say this – it profits nothing.

As we walk through this week, let’s take a leaf from the pages that the rest of creation reads. They seem to have it all down pat. They are taken care of. Their needs are met. Are we not more valuable than one of these? Maybe that’s the problem – we don’t know how much we mean to the One who commands the morning for us each day. The One who nestled the stars in place and sets the boundaries for the ocean. He who knitted us together in our mother’s womb and watched every part of us as they were being formed. He who carved out a place for us in this massive universe and takes the time to hear us when we whisper to Him. The One who extends grace to us when we were so unworthy. With or without our asking, He takes our fragile fractured sense of self and leads us into purpose. At times, He finds us in a pit of chaos and pain – He rescues us and gives us a do over. Today we don’t even look like what we’ve been through.

What manner of love is this? And, why do we forget so easily? Our heavenly Father has been doing this a long time. He has patiently waited for us to acknowledge and reciprocate. We run, we reject Him and we choose to find love in all the wrong places. We turn away and turn to worry. Why? Like the prodigal son – I pray we come to our senses before it’s too late. No one will ever love and care for us like He can. May we learn something from the birds today. God cares – He sees us. We are loved – we are wanted.

***Thanks for reading – Why are you so worried?