That’s for the Birds
It was five-fifteen Sunday morning, the woods were quiet except for the sound of a whippoorwill off in the distance and my family was still tucked snugly in their beds in peaceful slumber. The wind was still, the sky dark, the dog lying at my feet and I was sitting alone on the front porch listening, no one there but me and God.
It is my custom to get up early every day, but especially on Sunday. I like to take five or ten minutes to look over my material for the day and then have a few moments to reflect on all of it.
After about thirty minutes I decided that what I was experiencing was just too good to experience by myself so I ambled in the house in search of Miss Nita. Bribing her from the bed with a steaming cup of hot coffee, I asked her to join the symphony now in progress in front of the house. As she sat down on the front porch, the ole whippoorwill had assembled his orchestra. Now in unison, at least ten or twelve birds had joined in. As the darkness slowly changed into light, the anthem raised to glory. The more the light was turned on, the more birds there were to join in. Suddenly, the woods sounded as if they had been taken over with sounds of praise for a new day.
We sat there listening. What else could you do? God had tuned those voices. He had given each one it own sound. All of that diversity came together in a awesome sound. There was no doubt that there was a new day and God was in control.
We noticed something after a little while, though. Almost suddenly things changed again. It sounded as if the vocal band was breaking up. Why the sudden stop? What was happening? Then it dawned on me. It was time to go to work.
God’s creation always needs to take a time out of life to praise Him. The birds had done that. They began their day with praise. But now it was time to go to work. There were worms to hunt, babies to feed, eggs to sit, nests to build, mates to find, mosquitoes to catch, crickets to flush out. The birds love to sing and praise, but they knew that there were other things to do that was their task by the design of their Creator.
As I thought about all of that, naturally, I thought of us. In a few hours my family and I would be sitting in our big old tree with the rest of our Spiritual family singing our hearts out. We would be lifting up praise to our Creator. We would be together in our diversity letting God know that we are alive, well and grateful. I knew the hill on which our church building sits would be alive with praise.
Then it struck me. What are we going to do when we get through singing and praising? Will we then do the bidding of our Creator? Isn’t there more to Christianity than sitting in our tree singing a few bars with the rest of the birds? Were there not worms for us to catch? Babies to feed? Nests to be made? Doesn’t the Creator expect more out of me than a few moments of the week chirping? Are we really living consistently with the design of the One who made us?
There is a lesson to learn from the birds. Sing and sing sweetly and loud. But, when the song is over, GET TO WORK!