Parrots

A few weeks ago a friend and I went down to the bay and quite by accident stumbled upon a new little restaurant on the water called Judges. When we stopped there was a guy getting ready to get on his Harley but he had paused to look upward. We asked what he was looking at and he said, "Look at these parrots."

Sure enough we walked just a few feet out to the grassy field in fromt of the dirt parking lot and there were about four grand palm trees and in them were these huge nests that surrounded the base of the leaves...and in the nests were peep holes about 4 inches in diameter and through them week peeking baby parrots.
There were parrots flying from all directions beautiful green ones...feathering their nests and hovering over the babies. Well yesterday another friend and I went back....one of the grand nests had fallen to the ground and the babies had apparently learned to fly. The parrots were still there bringing twigs to rebuild their home...and smaller nests in the other palms seemed to have remain untethered. We stood and watched and listened....for those birds are noisy...for a good while and then left them to their busy ways....and grabbed lunch. What a day and what a cool outing. God just has his marvelous touch on all creation.

Most of us have read in the verses in Matthew about worry..and since I am just now finishing Matthew in my reading program, those verses were fresh on my mind yesterday when watching these birds. Matthew 6: 26 -27 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and YET your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can ADD a single hour to this life? God has given birds the instinct to build nests and feed their young....and they survive on the bounty of the land that surrounds them. Our bounty far exceeds the land in which we live...for we have been given a resource that dwells within us, the Holy Spirit, who gives us the strength, the know how, the gut wrenching determination, and the wisdom to move forward in our lives....and with purpose.....a Godly purpose that contributes to the richness of our lives as well as the lives of others.

But we hesitate so many times to act on that trust and leap out in faith becasue we have no guarantees that what we will pursue will be successful. And I don't know about you but I am not so good with failure....But as I continued to think about those beautiful and busy parrots yesterday...it occurred to me that if I act in partnership with God and trust him to lead me in decisions, in what I say and in what I do...and I genuinely trust that he had heard my "please"....and will do as he has said, then whatever I do...if I do it in accordance with what I believe to be His will...he will stop me if I am off tract and give me green light if I am on track. And what I might see as a failure here and there, I can be assured that he will use that experience in some way or another for his glory and for my growth.

These parrots were green....I know this is silly but it so goes along with this story...they were busy and accomplishing a God made goal of building nests...they were the green flying lights that got me thinking about faith. We don't have to have a whole crate of it..faith that is....just a little bit...and God will grow it and strengthen it and secure it as we continue to act on it. Just as those birds, one twig at a time, build....we are to build on our relationship with the Lord Jesus....and feather our nest of security in his heavens.

Storms are going to blow through our lives....that is for certain...but we will be able to endure whatever comes our way if we just build a solid nest of faith that we can hunker down in when those times of adversity start gaining momentum. Faith begins small....but God in his gracious ways has the ability and the know how to solidify it so that nothing can move us even in the winds of trouble. Faith is our tether....that keeps us connected to the one true God who has the authority, the wisdom and the power to help us to overcome anything. Nothing is too hard for God...and if our nest is blown to the ground because of the weight it has sustained from mistakes we have made...God will help us to build another one. And give us the confidence and the strength and the perseverance to keep on flying and not be pulled down by circumstances that have past. For there is always an ever present Hope that comes with a true faith....in Jesus.

The birds were a blessing, no doubt, but the special time with special longtime friends is a blessing that has such lasting rewards....and our time yesterday in the fresh bay air could not have been a more cherished gift.

Dear Lord, Oh what a blessing that you put on my eyes and ears yesterday upon seeing this flock of parrots. They were such a reminder that you are sooo in control of all living things. Help me to trust you and have faith in you in spite of the circumstances that are flying around me....and please continue to remind me that worry of tomorrow steals the joy of today. Amen

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!

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