Birds, Flowers, and a Song

Last weekend we had finally caught our breaths enough to spend some time showing our kids our pictures from our trip to Israel. They’d seen a few we’d sent each day, and some of the ones we’ve included in the blog, but this time we showed them all 300 of them. They (mostly) looked and engaged with interest, and one of their questions was “why are there so many pictures of flowers and birds?” And it’s true -if you ever end up sitting through all of our photos, you’ll notice this too. We, and especially me, took a lot of pictures of flowers and birds.

I’m not the gardener or the birder in the family (that’s Jay), but I found myself paying attention to the flowers and birds we were seeing in Israel. And we saw them everywhere – not only in nature (there were doves all over the place at the site of Jesus’ baptism!) but in art too. On churches and ancient Roman floors and carved into pillars and stones for synagogues, were flowers and birds. No wonder they came to Jesus’ mind as he was preaching: 

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life . . . 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 . . . See how the flowers of the field grow . . . if that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith?

Our trip to Israel wasn’t what we thought it would be, and it was hard to have it cut short, to not see things I’d been looking forward to seeing. But I’m so grateful for the time we did have, and I can’t really imagine living in this time without the gift of that time first. I’m still trying to pay attention to the birds and the flowers now that we’re back, to delight in them and receive them  as reminders of Jesus’ words about not worrying, but trusting God’s loving care.

For the past several weeks the song ‘Always Good’ by Andrew Peterson has been running through my mind. The chorus includes these words: You’re always good, always good.  Somehow this sorrow is shaping my heart like it should. And you’re always good, always good.... Will you help us to trust your intentions for us are still good?

It’s a cold dreary morning as I sit to write this. Things have already not gone as I planned or hoped - we’ve had a lot of yelling and tears and it’s not even time for morning recess yet. And a bird is singing, there’s a daffodil blooming near the window – reminders that God is good, and God is taking care of us, and God is using this time to shape us to be more and more like Jesus.