Today was the day to finally get outside for a nice walk walk. So on went the shoes (and the sweatshirt) and off I took. Do you know what caught my attention? Let me tell you it was the sounds.

Sounds of spring.

Sounds that were music to my ears, fresh and new and full of life!

But of course I’m talking about the birds, several varieties, in fact. Listening to them as I walked reminded me of one of my long time favorite passages in Matthew 6. Verse 26 says “look at the birds.” They were easier for me to hear that to see today, although I saw several. But I really did marvel once again that they arrived. Like clockwork. Without a worry or care.

They are just in time to find nesting materials. Just in time for the new grass and new leaves to shelter them. The rains will come down and the worms will crawl up. “Look at the birds. They do not plant or harvest or store food in barns for your heavenly Father feeds them.”

Psalm 23 also paints a similar picture of being taken care of by the Lord (our Shepherd). “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Just like the birds in the air, God provides for the sheep by giving them a shepherd. As long as the sheep follow the voice and the feet of their shepherd, they will have enough. God will feed them, and protect them.

Neither the birds nor the sheep worry about their life. They don’t plan. They don’t shuffle things around. They eat, they sleep, they mate and have their young, and they sing their songs which brings glory to the Lord.

So too, we should be eating and resting, raising our children and living our lives in such a way that honors the Lord. Not focused on the next meal, the next pay check, the next outfit. But focused on the One who provides, the One who has given life.