For the Birds

I love birds.....any bird really, but I especially like swallows and mourning doves. Our home in Colorado had a large picture window that faced our front yard, where two very large blue spruces were the home of two mourning doves.  Did you know that doves mate for life? And did you further know (that is a line from, Its A Wonderful Life. I have always wanted to be able to "say" it!) that doves will come back each year to the same nesting spot?  I so enjoyed watching the doves build their nest in the spring, and then I would notice that the two became three or four! Each year of the eight that we lived there, I would see the doves come back in the spring, and roost in our tree.  As we prepared to move to Washington state, I was bummed that I had to say "good-bye" to my feathered friends. 
Now we live in a newer housing area, and so there are not any mature trees yet.  We do have a maple tree in our front yard, and over the past four years, it has grown quite tall.  Last winter, I decided that it was time to "bring on the birds," and so I bought a feeder.  Since that day, I have been faithful to fill the feeder with a yummy mix of seeds and nuts, and the birds have been faithful to come and eat of the bounty. 
Up till this winter, I hadn't seen any mourning doves yet, and then one particularly cold day in December, there they were.  And it was not one pair of doves, but four!!  The doves have made our front porch their home......and I have discovered something that I had not known before.......mourning doves are MESSY!  They grab a seed or a nut from the feeder and then take it back to the porch to dine on it......then they leave the empty shells, and the other things that come from the back side of their feathered little bodies!  Needless to say, the porch is in constant need of a good sweep and clean.  But, I don't mind the work because.....I love birds.
The other day as I was sweeping up the mess, I was reminded of how Jesus told us to not worry about our lives, to not worry about what we are to eat, or what we are to wear on our bodies.  I am sure that you are familiar with the passage in Luke, where the Lord uses birds and flowers as an example to us about His care of us.  Jesus said that the birds of the air don't have to toil for their food, it is provided for them from His hand.  He also said that the flowers of the field don't need to worry about their pretty petals, that they are clothed with finer garments than a king is!!  All of this to say that we don't need to worry about our lives.  If God takes care of the birds and of nature, then He most certainly will take care of us......His most precious creation!
As I finished cleaning the front porch and refilling the bird feeder, here the birds came.....they landed in our maple tree and began to sing their songs.....the doves cooed at me, and waited until I went into the house before they moved to the porch.  I came away with the realization that I too am to "sing" at what is provided.  I am to "sing" for there is no cause to worry, God has never let me down, and I know He never will.  I am to "sing" because of His love for me, and I am to "sing" of how He so often has to clean up my messes.......He doesn't mind the "work" involved in having me around. And just as I love to hear the birds sing and the doves coo, I know that Jesus loves to hear me sing too.