Look at the birds

Birdsong: the sound of the secure

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“Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!…And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you…”

-Matthew 6: 8, 30

—

I was pushing Benaiah on a swing.

He had taken turns with Eliana and it had been a struggle for him but he had complied with a lot of coaching. She went in with her siblings and school was supposed to start back up. I still had several math problems and a handwriting worksheet to work through with Abishai and I thought I would be herding my kids back inside to get to work, too. But Benaiah was loving the swing.

And I just thought, So many times I rush him off this swing.

It’s someone else’s turn. I can’t see your brother. It’s time to go. And he’s never finished. What would it look like to swing him, not until I was finished, but until he was? Today, I reasoned, I had the time to find out. Math and handwriting could wait. My two-year old boy would only be two for one more month and I was going to swing him to his heart’s content.

So I sang to him to pass the time and I pushed him on the swing.

I quoted verses and I pushed him on the swing.

Then I grew still and quiet and I pushed him on the swing.

A book I was reading had just talked of “the still, small voice” that spoke to Elijah after the earthquake and the windstorm and the fire. It was a Hebrew phrase used to describe forehead-touching intimate moments between a mother and a baby or two lovers.

And in my stillness, pushing the swing, on Bolivia Court, my heart reached for that still, small voice.

Lord, what would you have to say to me today, if our foreheads touched?

Look at the birds. Came the quiet nudge to my heart.

So I looked up. They were everywhere. Flitting from branch to branch, strutting across the yards, singing, flying, hopping. Man, there were a lot of birds. I hadn’t noticed them. So I looked. I really looked.

Notice that I didn’t say to look at the squirrels, the nudge came again.

I thought about squirrels. Where birds seem carefree and happy in their constant movement, squirrels seem…frantic. I thought about their hoarding. Constantly storing up. Famous for their hurried work of packing more and more nuts in anywhere they can save them up, only to forget where many of them are and never eat them. It’s how God designed for the planting of some trees. Squirrels, meaning to eat something they forget is even there.

How many things do I frantically plant? What grows from the seeds I plant in haste and worry?

Do you ever see a bird saving food for later?

No. They either toss it down their gullet and swallow it down with rapture, or immediately take it to feed someone else. But saving it for later? Not on the agenda for a bird.

I feed them. Their job is to sing.

I had looked. Now I listened as I kept pushing the swing. What a chorus the birds were raising on this sunny, normal, Bolivia Court morning. I was shocked at how many different birdsongs I go about my day tuning out. They sang incessantly. Each its own tune. And it made me think of a series of Psalms I had been reading:

“I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak His praises.” – Psalm 34:1

“Oh God, we give glory to you all day long and constantly praise your name.” -Psalm 44:8

“But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress. O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for you, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love.”

-Psalm 59:16-17

“My life is an example to many, because you have been my strength and protection. This is why I can never stop praising you; I declare your glory all day long.”

-Psalm 71:7-8

“But I will keep on hoping for your help. I will praise you more and more.”

-Psalm 71:14

“I will shout for joy and sing your praises, for you have ransomed me. I will tell about your righteous deeds all day long…”

-Psalm 71:23-24

It reminds me of the birds. He cares for them and they can’t shut up about it. They sing constantly.

Songbirds don’t store up. That’s you, by the way. Another nudge.

I pushed the swing and thought long and hard. Every creature has its design and its job. I was made to sing about Him. I’ve always known that. But no one wants to listen to the grating singing of a squirrel, yelling at you because you’re approaching its precious territory full of its precious treasures. What does calm our souls is birdsong.

I have nothing except what I’ve been given. And what I’ve been given is a voice that calms souls…at least it does when my own soul has been well-tended. Some days, it sounds more like a frantic, protective squirrel screech.

Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store foods in barns, for your Heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to Him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

(Matt 6:26-27)

I let the swing slow and checked on Benaiah, who looked like he was starting to droop. “High! High! High!” he rubbed his sleepy eyes and demanded. An hour had passed. Turns out the limit of his desire for swinging will remain a mystery to us all. I soaked in the image of his chubby frown, pushed him gently a few more times, and then slipped him onto my shoulder and carried him inside for a nap.

“No buddy,” I smiled into his neck as he groggily protested,

“Sometimes, I know what you need better than you do.”

That evening, Abi asked me to read him a library book about seeds. Lo and behold, we reached the page about acorns and there was a picture of a squirrel. “Some seeds get planted by squirrels, who bury many, many acorns in preparation for winter, and then forget where some of them are buried.”

Oh, the frantic, forgetful squirrel. But songbirds don’t store up for winter. They just go where it’s warm.

At the end of the book, the author talked about how, in time, a seed that gets what it needs will sprout and grow into a tree that bears fruit.

“Did you know God tells us that our hearts are like this soil?” I asked Abi. “He says His word is a seed. A seed that grows into a strong tree and bears lots of fruit. But only in good soil. If the soil is too hard and dry, if people don’t listen and believe God’s word, it doesn’t grow in their hearts. If there’s too much in the soil competing with God’s word, it won’t grow either. He says that people whose hearts are filled with the worries and cares of this life are like that, and those worries choke out God’s word and keep it from growing. But people who listen to it and believe it more than their worries, who pull out those weeds and make room for his word to grow, they end up with a strong tree. We want our hearts to be soft soil that listens to and makes room for his words. That refuse to let what God has to say be choked out and silenced by our worries and our fears.”

Oh Lord,

May it be so in me. Teach me to tend to the soil of my heart. To let your word take root and grow, deeper and stronger, filling me up until there is no room for my fears to take root. Teach me to be vigilant with my garden spade, “I will not be afraid, I will not be afraid, I will not be afraid.” Exchanging each worry weed for another seed of truth that I water and tend and believe and listen to until, like the birds, I can’t shut up about it. Let my worried screech give way to worship – the soothing sound of a secure heart reveling in the certainty that its Caregiver is faithful.

“And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”

-James 3:18

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control…You will always harvest what you plant.”

– Galatians 5:22-23, 6:7

“For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.”

– 2 Corinthians 9:7

“We are human but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

-2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Look Harder: a gentle first step when your eyes are cast down

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“Consider the ravens: They don’t sow or reap; they don’t have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than the birds?”

–Luke 12:24

—

I am in an ongoing learning process in my battle with worry, fear, and stress. This past two weeks, we had another round of overwhelm.

Cody went in for emergency surgery to deal with a sudden case of appendicitis and my doctor put in some orders for bloodwork and imaging to get a clearer picture of what’s going on with me. One thing she wanted was a brain MRI. I’m still not quite over the last time our family went through getting a brain MRI “just to rule something out.”

And so, these past two weeks have highlighted where I still struggle in this learning process, especially with waiting and with fear. One thing I have noticed in my reading is that God does not just say what NOT to do or think. He directs us in what TO do and think.

He doesn’t just say, “Don’t be afraid.”

He says, “Take courage, I am here.” (Matthew 14:27)

As I read through Luke 12 this week, the heading in my Bible caught my attention: “The Cure for Anxiety.”

The cure? Does anxiety have a cure? I have only ever seen management for anxiety in the medical field. Meds and processes and tools to lessen its effects. I’ve never had a patient tell me, “Oh, I used to have anxiety, but it’s cured.”

The title isn’t part of God’s inspired word, it was a section label added later. But after so many passages of Jesus dealing with the incurable: leprosy, years of bleeding, blindness, muteness, deafness, paralysis; I thought it was spot on, to take what he said about anxiety and call it the cure. Because “cure” is what He can do with things that men can only manage.

I live with the proof.

And so I looked past “Do not worry” and hunted for what Jesus said TO DO. Where is the Siloam pool He directs us to go wash in for this blindness? And He repeated it for me, so I wouldn’t miss it.

He didn’t just say, “Don’t worry.” He said, “Consider.”

Right! I thought. Fix my eyes on Jesus! That’s always the answer.

But no. Not exactly. Not this time. For weariness, He says “Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” (Hebrews 12:3). For endurance, He says “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…” (Hebrews 12:2). But for anxiety, Christ himself, who held in his hands the ability to heal our torment, said to look at something else.

“Consider the ravens: They don’t sow or reap; they don’t have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them.” (Luke 12:24)

“Consider how the wildflowers grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.” (Luke 12:27)

I looked up this word that is translated “Consider” in Greek, and this is what I found:

It is the word katanoēsate (κατανοήσατε) – from kata: “down into,” and noeó: “think/understand/realize.” It means to take note of, consider carefully, make account of, or discern. Properly, “to think from up to down.” To understand fully, to consider closely. The word expresses real comprehending: considering attentively until reaching a clear and definite understanding.

There’s a scene in the animated movie The Lion King, where the wise baboon Rafiki promises Simba he can show him his father, then leads him to a pool and tells him to look into the water. Simba peers over the edge and then lets out a defeated sigh, “That’s not my father, it’s just my reflection.”

“No,” Rafiki grabs his head and points back at the water, “Look harder. He lives in you.”

It’s the best visual I can come up with for what “Consider” means here. “Look harder. Look more closely. Think from up to down until you understand more fully.”

Look harder at the birds and the wildflowers, at these “cures” for my thinking that my Heavenly Father has placed all around me, until I reach real comprehending of what they mean:

Birds don’t store up.

Wildflowers aren’t the result of someone’s carefully tended garden.

And yet look at them, thriving.

Next, Jesus asks two questions:

  1. “Aren’t you worth much more than the birds?” (Luke 12:24)
  2. “How much more will He do for you?” (Luke 12:28)

He says “Don’t worry.” And then He tells me what TO DO instead.

Think this: “Your Father knows that you need these things.” (Luke 12:30)

Do this: Seek His kingdom, give to the poor, and store up inexhaustible treasure in Heaven instead of frantically gathering and trying to hold onto what you can here on Earth. (Luke 12:31-34)

Because why would you store up something that’s going to be GIVEN to you?

This summer, we got to visit Melvin and Brenda, one of the awesome couples who has taught and mentored us over the last several years. I shared with them how it had felt to be so spent and so frightened that I went limp. How disappointed I was that I froze and ended up depending on the faith and the prayers of others; that I despaired for my son, while others kept hoping and asking that God would rescue him.

Melvin told me I was not alone. There have been moments where he has gone limp, and that his rule for seasons like this is to have four good friends. Like the paralyzed man who couldn’t get himself to the feet of Jesus, but let himself be carried, lifted, and lowered by friends who were determined to get him to the place of help, we may face times where we know we need the Lord, but we are so bowled over by what we are going through, that we feel too weak to even carry ourselves to Him.

Melvin said those are the moments to invite four good friends, one for each corner of your mat, to carry you to the feet of Jesus, to intercede for you, to rip open the roof, and to beg Him to help you. And that, when you can walk again, it’s time to grab a corner of the mat and carry someone who can’t.

I think that’s one reason “consider the birds” and “consider the flowers” hit me differently this time. Because I know what it is to know God is right and good and able and that what I need is to fix my eyes on Jesus, and yet to be bowed down by so much pain and fear that I struggle to lift my eyes and meet his gaze.

And in those moments, the One who gently calls me to come to Him and find his rest, points to a simple first step when my eyes are cast down:

Are you so stressed and anxious that it’s hard to see me? Does it feel impossible to fix your gaze on me? Then look around you, at what you CAN see.

Wildflowers. Birds. Common. I’ve put them everywhere so you are never without the reminder.

See them? Good. Now look harder. Consider what they mean.

When you cannot see my face or understand my heart, look at how I care for the small things that are not near as valuable to me or as lasting as you are. This is what it means: I will absolutely care for you.

No matter what it looks like, when you’re going under, look again. Still don’t see your Father? Look harder.

“Then he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat; or about the body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: They don’t sow or reap; they don’t have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than the birds? 25 Can any of you add one moment to his life span[d] by worrying? 26 If then you’re not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest?

27 “Consider how the wildflowers grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. 28 If that’s how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he do for you—you of little faith? 29 Don’t strive for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don’t be anxious. 30 For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

31 “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. 32 Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

–Luke 12:22-34

Here’s a song I wrote about considering the lilies: