“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid: you are worth more than the sparrows”- Jesus. Luke 12:6-7.
When I was younger, I never really gave much thought to birds. My Mom did though, and my Aunt Betty. Both were avid bird watchers and bird feeders. Every day my mom would watch the feeder planted in the ground outside the kitchen window to study and make note of the birds eating from the feeder. She could name most all of them. My Aunt Betty was the same. They even had photo reference guide books, if a new strange and unknown bird should land on the perch. But in the past few years my view of birds has changed.
I remember the first time I heard someone mention the visits they had from cardinals after a loved one passed. It was on a television program and I kinda just waived it off as some sort of old wives tales, or in contemporary terms, an urban legend. There was something seemingly so unspiritual for this Baptist grounded woman to accept any messages from dead people in the form of a red cardinal.
When my mom died, I started to see hummingbirds whenever I visited my parents home, at precise moments- the moments when I was finding myself overcome with grief. I began to see that maybe there was the potential for birds to be sort of messengers from God. My mom loved her birds, but especially hummingbirds. It brought me comfort at the time and so I put it in the back of my mind to ponder.
That is until this past year, when a pesky little male cardinal-the red ones- has been appearing everywhere. This past year my dad died and also my husband and I moved to a new house in a new neighborhood. At our old house we had beautiful hedges that the birds liked to build their nests in and hide. Over the time we lived there I would see a few cardinals, but never daily, just once in a while. But when we moved, we lost the hedges and moved into a new housing development, which means no grown trees and shrubs.
But since our move, a little cardinal came out of no where and would sit outside my window and sing his little birdy wakeup song at daylight- every morning. But as I began to think about how this bird appeared shortly after my dad passed, I began to wonder if the story of cardinals visiting after loved ones have passed could have some truth to it.
And then this cardinal started showing up everywhere I travelled. At our daughter’s home, right outside the guest room window, in traveling on the highways, and I think even on a trip to France. There have been pairs of cardinals (male and female) who fly across my windshield right in front of me, so as to not let me miss this greeting. Maybe I’m just noticing more, or maybe there is truth in this legend.
Last week was a particularly difficult week and I found myself faced with many decisions to make- and honestly, I’m not so great at deciding. I was watching a video from the university I attend as part of my online curriculum from my desk. My window blinds were raised so I could catch the view of our garden out the window as I worked on my homework for the course. As the video was ending, I felt at peace with the decision I was struggling to make, when I caught something just outside the window in the corner of my eye. A pair of hummingbirds was pausing mid-flight to stop, and stare at me sitting at my desk, doing my homework. Wow! It left me speechless.
As I have been thinking about whether or not this is from God, I considered just how many examples from the Bible mention birds, included the one I have shared above. The conclusion I’ve drawn is that yes, God can and does use birds to deliver messages of hope. As Jesus is mentioning above, God knows each sparrow, they are not random, and since He knows the smallest little details, including the number of hairs on your head, He will take care of you.
If you think for a moment about other times birds are mentioned- the dove who brought back the olive branch for Noah after the flood, the Holy Spirit mentioned as like a dove, coming down from Heaven at Jesus’ baptism by John, as well as Jesus’ using birds for His teachings, it is not unreasonable to think that God could send little winged messengers to us. And I don’t mean angels. Just little birds to remind us, that we are going to be okay. Birds are not overlooked by God, and it is as if the birds are trying to remind us that they know God looks after them so we should trust God with all our stuff too- our finances, our struggles, our lives, our relationships, our decisions.
This has just been a thought for today, and I’d like to hear your feedback. Do you think God uses birds to teach us? God Bless, Nancy
Moving Forward 