My friend Linda knows everything about birds. At lunch the other day, I was amazed by her knowledge and fascinated by her stories about her three peacocks.
Perhaps that’s why I clicked on a recent email about birds. I quickly realized, while I may consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about a lot of things, there is still so much I don’t know!
I was astonished by what I discovered. Never in my lifetime had I even thought about this, let alone realized there are people keeping track of it.
Looking up the numbers by state, I discovered last night as the leaves around us began changing into brilliant reds and yellows, more than 11 million birds migrated across the state of Montana.
While I slept, the sky at 10,000 feet above became a superhighway for big and little travelers headed toward warmer places.
What? I never realized that!
Then I came across these words of Jesus: “Look at the birds of the air; for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” — Matthew 6:26
I laughingly thought, that’s a lot of stops at the roadside diner in the sky! One night could probably deplete the entire monthly birdseed supply!
And yet, God values us more than these.
Jesus used something as ordinary as birds to teach us something extraordinary about anxiety and worry. If our Heavenly Father cares for the birds, how much more does He care for us?
One way we can quiet our worries is by intentionally focusing on gratitude. They say gratitude is the highway to joy. How true!
William Arthur Ward once said, “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”
As my wonderment continues over God’s creation, great and small, I find myself returning to His promise in Jeremiah 33:3: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
In reality, the greatest joy—the greatest unsearchable thing—has little to do with birds.
While their journey across Montana fascinates me, the ultimate wonder is found in one simple truth:
No one has ever cared for me like Jesus.
The stirring melodies of Stephanie Gretzinger bring this so beautufully to light:
"If my heart could tell a story If my life would sing a song If I have a testimony If I have anything at all... I'd tell the world No one ever cared for me like Jesus."
And perhaps this is what God wants us to discover every day—not simply how much He cares for His creation, but how deeply He cares for us.
As you look at your own life today, what would change if you truly lived as though you were as deeply cared for by Jesus as He says you are?
