Bird Watching
“Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Matthew 10:29-31
News Flash! There is a cure for worry and stress. It’s nothing new but I am sure its a remedy few people are aware of but God Himself guarantees its effectiveness. Like any good infomercial, let me begin by telling you how I discovered this amazing truth. It all started as I was watching a video clip this morning of a woman giving water to a thirsty pigeon. The woman was in a turnout atop a mountain peak and on the ground next to her was a pigeon drinking water from an indentation in the concrete. The woman had poured water from her bottle into it seeing how it formed a bowl. The bird was obviously thirsty as it drank all the water in the little pool. The bird looked up as if to say "can I have some more please" so the woman walked back over ever so gently and the bird didn’t even move. It just sat right there looking up as the woman filled up the spot in the ground and the bird proceeded to drink. Literally thousands of people had viewed the clip before me and I hope their thoughts were the same as mine as I watched.
In Matthew 6:25-26 Jesus said, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 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?"
My hope for everyone who sees that video clip is that they notice how the bird isn’t worried. It’s as if the bird knows that God provides and cares for birds too. He just sits there and waits for the woman to put some water in this little dish carved out of the ground.
When Jesus said, “Do not worry” he was telling His listeners (in the original Greek language) to cease from doing what they had been previously doing (with regard to worrying). In other words Jesus was saying stop it already! Why would Jesus say such a thing? Because Jesus knowing their thoughts obviously knew that they were worried about all sorts of things. Maybe some of the same things we worry about too. Things like, how are we going to pay our taxes, or do we have enough money to buy food? Maybe you are worried about the Covid virus and your job or your health? The list could go on and on and yet Jesus understood then just as He does today that we worry about a lot of things. Jesus was telling the people then just what He is instructing you and I today, to cease from doing what we had been previously doing. In other words, whatever you have been worrying about, stop it already.
Jesus tells His listeners to do something if they want to stop worrying. He says to “look at the birds.” Yes, loved one there is a cure for stress and worry that maybe you have not considered before, bird watching. Try it the next time you get all stressed out over your life. Go to a park, any place where you can find a bird to watch. It makes no different if it’s one or a hundred. Just watch them and see how they feed and drink and sing and interact. As you do remember Jesus words that, “your Heavenly Father feeds them and are not you of more value than they?”
Are you stressed out today, are you living in fear and worry? If so, take a few moments to sit and watch the birds, reminding yourself as you do that you have a Father in heaven who loves you and cares for you and has promised to provide for you even more so than He does for those birds you are watching.
“Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:27-34
I LOVE YOU!
Matthew 10:29-31
News Flash! There is a cure for worry and stress. It’s nothing new but I am sure its a remedy few people are aware of but God Himself guarantees its effectiveness. Like any good infomercial, let me begin by telling you how I discovered this amazing truth. It all started as I was watching a video clip this morning of a woman giving water to a thirsty pigeon. The woman was in a turnout atop a mountain peak and on the ground next to her was a pigeon drinking water from an indentation in the concrete. The woman had poured water from her bottle into it seeing how it formed a bowl. The bird was obviously thirsty as it drank all the water in the little pool. The bird looked up as if to say "can I have some more please" so the woman walked back over ever so gently and the bird didn’t even move. It just sat right there looking up as the woman filled up the spot in the ground and the bird proceeded to drink. Literally thousands of people had viewed the clip before me and I hope their thoughts were the same as mine as I watched.
In Matthew 6:25-26 Jesus said, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 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?"
My hope for everyone who sees that video clip is that they notice how the bird isn’t worried. It’s as if the bird knows that God provides and cares for birds too. He just sits there and waits for the woman to put some water in this little dish carved out of the ground.
When Jesus said, “Do not worry” he was telling His listeners (in the original Greek language) to cease from doing what they had been previously doing (with regard to worrying). In other words Jesus was saying stop it already! Why would Jesus say such a thing? Because Jesus knowing their thoughts obviously knew that they were worried about all sorts of things. Maybe some of the same things we worry about too. Things like, how are we going to pay our taxes, or do we have enough money to buy food? Maybe you are worried about the Covid virus and your job or your health? The list could go on and on and yet Jesus understood then just as He does today that we worry about a lot of things. Jesus was telling the people then just what He is instructing you and I today, to cease from doing what we had been previously doing. In other words, whatever you have been worrying about, stop it already.
Jesus tells His listeners to do something if they want to stop worrying. He says to “look at the birds.” Yes, loved one there is a cure for stress and worry that maybe you have not considered before, bird watching. Try it the next time you get all stressed out over your life. Go to a park, any place where you can find a bird to watch. It makes no different if it’s one or a hundred. Just watch them and see how they feed and drink and sing and interact. As you do remember Jesus words that, “your Heavenly Father feeds them and are not you of more value than they?”
Are you stressed out today, are you living in fear and worry? If so, take a few moments to sit and watch the birds, reminding yourself as you do that you have a Father in heaven who loves you and cares for you and has promised to provide for you even more so than He does for those birds you are watching.
“Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:27-34
I LOVE YOU!
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