And What Do You See?

It was a warm and sunny day, one of the first of the year and it held the promise of many more. In the yard taking advantage of such a day were some birds; a couple of robins, some sparrows, and a bluebird, I think. The way they were hopping about with very little purpose reminded me of sprinters warming up before a race, moving around, doing this and that, trying to loosen up. These birds had been off somewhere during the winter and now there was the promise of spring and you could tell they were as ready for spring as everyone else was. But they were just birds, nothing special—the kind that you can find just about anywhere.

The Christ spoke to His disciples on one occasion about such simple creatures. He remarked that such common birds could be purchased at the market place for next to nothing. That was no revelation but what followed surely was. He went on to say that none of them would fall to the earth in death apart from the Father’s knowledge (Matthew 10:29).

Who would imagine that God, busy with the bigger cares of the world, would even notice such a small thing as a bird falling to its demise? If such information needed to be known, at very least you would have expect it to be delegated to some lowly angel, not the Almighty Himself. But there it is, thrown out before the disciples like the nets they had cast so often—God Himself knows and cares about the smallest of His creation.

So there they were, hopping around in our front yard without a care or concern. I could choose to simply see them as just birds—winged bipeds, so peripheral and numerous as to be excluded from anyone’s sphere of interest. Or, I could see them as benefactors of Divine watchfulness. But however I chose to see them will color how I will see myself.