Da Birds

Read Matthew 6:25-34

Psalm 139: 23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart;  test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

One of my favorite aspects of our home is da birds :) Right before the sun begins to peak across the horizon, the birds begin an amazing symphony.  I lay quietly, imagining I am in a forest listening as God’s creation responds to Him.

Recently I woke up around 4 am. It was totally quiet outside - the birds were not awake yet.  Then this question crossed my mind - Where do the birds sleep?  Not the most insightful question I have had 4 am, but one I have been pondering. 

Jesus challenges his disciples in Matthew 6 to look at the birds - “They do not sow, harvest or store up food and yet they have plenty to eat.”  Jesus follows this thought up by asking them the question “who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?”  

God is NOT afraid or ashamed of your anxiety! He recognizes you will worry and be anxious.  You are not “less than” when you worry, and you are not more righteous when you don’t worry.  Sons and daughters worry and can live with incredible anxiety. If you never “worry,” are you truly alive? Could God be interested in the “why” of your anxiety more than the “what?”  
During my teens I found a lump on the inside of my arm. A few years prior, my aunt found a lump on her side and was treated for lymphoma.  Praise Jesus she was healed!  When I found this lump, I worried for years that I had cancer??. Being a typical male, I “hid” the lump. I assumed if no one knew about the lump and if I “worried” about it long enough, it would go away. That lump still exists on my arm🤫!

David writes in Psalms 139 - “Test me, God, know my anxious thoughts.”  Invite God today to reveal to you the source of your anxious thoughts.  Can you add an hour to your life by hiding it from Him?  Will your anxiety disappear if you ignore it?  Are you able to be the blessing you were created to be with “lumps of worry” lodged in your heart? 

If I were writing a story about 2020, I would begin “Once upon a time there was a great worry in the land”  and end it with  “and the birds slept.”